Fantasy’s Othering Fetish, Part 3

By Phenderson Djeli Clark This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here. In the 1970s, African-American (now Afro-Canadian) writer Charles Saunders began publishing short fantasy stories in small magazine presses. From the beginning, his stories pulled on African history, as opposed to, as he put it, “the usual… Read More

Fantasy’s Othering Fetish, Part 2

By Phenderson Djeli Clark This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Part 1 is here. In modern fantasy, with its fascination with medieval Europe, it seemed almost fated that acts of “othering” would take root. Some of Western Europe’s founding notions of non-Westerners trace back long before colonialism, as early as the medieval era, where… Read More

Fantasy’s Othering Fetish, Part 1

By Phenderson Djeli Clark This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Over the years demands for more meaningful diversity in our fantasy realms have grown increasingly louder–a clarion call that echoes from the mundane world to haunt our usual lands of elves, dragons, orcs and whatnot. Back in 2010 when local New Zealanders were told… Read More