The authors who manage to clear the low bar of incorporating characters/communities from diverse cultures into their fiction without cultural appropriation/stereotyping/racism… who are they and how do they do it?

I know many writers sidestep the difficulty altogether, either by creating a fictional universe with cultural proxies (fantasy stories/video games with Chinese, Japanese, and Russian analogues, I’m looking at you) or by writing in the distant future where the cultures have blended into new ones with flavors of the past (sci-fi does this a lot).

I’ve seen so very few authors do it well, but I do believe it’s both possible and worth doing.

  • underline960@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    17 hours ago

    In our world.

    I would consider Wheel of Time as an example of fantasy with reskinned real world cultures.

    Andor is essentially a landlocked version of England, having a “Lion Throne” and ruled by a queen. Cairhien and Mayene bear similarities to France (Cairhien has the Sun Throne; Mayener names are reminiscent of French). Arad Doman resembles Arabic countries and Iran. (source: TV Tropes)

    It’s well-written, but by nature of being fantasy, it sidesteps the challenge of writing meaningful interactions between real world communities.