Call for Submissions
The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness
WisCon40 followed a seismic shift in the demographics of the
convention. Following the success of the POC Safer Space, there is now a
Genderqueer/Trans Lounge, and a Disability Lounge. Programming actively seeks a
diversity of panelists. How have these changes come about, and what have their
ramifications been?
The theme, "Trials by Whiteness," examines how what
bell hooks calls the white-supremacist capitalist (cishetero)patriarchy has affected
the feminism of WisCon and created difficult confrontations and conversations
on the clashing perceptions of attendees. "Whiteness" refers to the
position from which white supremacy operates. It has constantly moving
goalposts by which everyone is measured. Whiteness does not refer only to white
people; non-white peoples can also identify with this position and perspective.
"Trials by whiteness," therefore, refers to all the problems people
have to go through as a result of white supremacy, on various scales from
microaggressions to abuse, whether institutionally or through individual
behaviours.
I welcome essays and contemplations on the following:
·
the changing faces of
WisCon;
·
the challenges in
transmitting and sharing knowledge across generations;
·
clashes of ideology,
theories, and/or practices as feminism grows;
·
panel reports;
·
nice listicles, for
example suggestions for how to ally with (and not over!) the various folks that
come to WisCon!
I encourage personal essays, poems, or roundtable discussions that
deal with any of the following, especially in the context of WisCon and within
the SFF industry:
·
dialogs and difficult
conversations about the rising discomfort of white SFF fans;
·
intra-community
conflicts within marginalized groups, which we fear to discuss because we fear
whiteness turning these conflicts against us;
·
spillover of hegemonic
whiteness onto other forms of oppression, such as disability, class, and gender
expression;
·
productive outcomes of
difficult conversations, e.g. Nalo Hopkinson's Lemonade Award;
·
what DID happen over
the summer before WC39? for good or for ill, how did that affect WisCon40?
Further afield, I am a big fan of Academic Lite articles and welcome
experimental and non-academic forms discussing the following topics:
·
how POC and
conditionally white people are treated by people comfortably entrenched in
whiteness;
·
the internalization of
white/Eurocentric standards and difficulties of unlearning them in order to
recognize oneself, whether as part of the system, or apart from it;
·
the challenges of
being a white person confronting whiteness and demonstrating solidarity and
good allyship, earning trust;
·
uncovering whiteness, the
ramifications of naming it and dealing with the cognitive dissonance that it
demands.
While this anthology does center the POC gaze, I am also
interested in white essayists interrogating these difficult subjects from the
intersections of their identities as well.
Don’t reject yourself—that’s my job!
I am particularly interested in articles that are conversations,
especially between newer and older attendees, between attendees who identify
differently, or in response to WisCon events. For example, attendees of color
and white attendees who attended the Hamilton Sing-Along. Pitch me!
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