Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Not Yet a Con Report

This is a placeholder post to let you know I am back and trying to catch up on work, but there will definitely be a con report this weekend to let you know how SteamCon went! Thanks everyone for coming to panels and generating some good discussion, even those of you I had to shut down for whatever reason. Thanks for popping by the parties and for filling our tip jar. And thanks for not making fun of me that last day when I could barely function. 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Steampunk Postcolonialist at SteamCon

Gentlefolk, it is my pleasure to announce that I will be attending SteamCon IV this October 26 - 28, with a full list of panels on which I appear to be the only one, so let's just say I will be hosting a wide array of discussions, and YOU, dear audience, are cordially invited to be my panelists. You are all welcome to come sit in and listen, but I will not be doing the bulk of the talking. These aren't really subjects I want to claim any expertise in; these are questions that have been troubling me, so I'm reaching out to ya'll to share your thoughts.

I am also hosting parties on the official party floor! There will be limited alcohol, as most people I know don't do that kind of thing, but I will prepare a punch bowl and tea. (My idea of "punch bowl" happens to be "throw whatever juice or soft drink seems appropriate for the moment into a bowl" so, uh, yeah.) Feel free to bring in any such beverages as you please, or even donate juice or soda to the punch bowl, although if you're bringing in alcohol, please let me know so I can make sure we're not feeding the kids the wrong thing.


FRIDAY I will kick off with Steampunk Represent! in Regency B from 5pm - 6pm:
There are many assumptions about steampunk made by people who aren't part of the scene and barely even pay attention to us: steampunk glorifies empire; steampunk is just a new fashion; steampunk books don't exist; steampunk cons are just Ren Fairs. What assumptions do you come across the most? How are they true or wrong? What do you think gives outsiders this impression, and how can we represent steampunk in all its diversity?

I will be joined by James Carrott, cultural historian, and Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Leather for this panel. You may know James Carrott for his work on Vintage Tomorrows documentary and accompanying book. These dudes tend to have a lot to say so I will be keeping time and making sure to call on audience members, so please do not hesitate to put your hand up if you have something to say.

In the evening, I will also host Steampunks Of Colour Unite! Yes, an official Silver Goggles party! Come join  me in creating a truly multiracial space in the convention. Nivi Hicks will have her photo booth set up so we can document as many POC attendees as possible and prove to the world that steampunk is more diverse than it looks from the outside. This is also a Carl Brandon Society benefit: if you don't know who the Carl Brandon Society are, do come and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have about them! I will also have membership forms for people interested in joining or donating to the Carl Brandon Society.

Steampunks of Colour, Unite! will be a Safe Space. It is meant to be a POC-centric space. Non-POC allies are welcome, but shouldn't expect to be catered to: if I hear your ass is being argumentative and problematic and you make any of the POC attendees uncomfortable, I will personally throw you out.

SATURDAY! Although I don't have the wonderful JoSelle Vanderhooft and O.M.Grey with me this time, I am bringing It's Mad Science!: Mental Illness in Steampunk to the SteamCon audience in the same room, Regency B, from 9am - 10am:
Mad scientists are a staple in the pulp fiction that eventually led to steampunk, but perceptions of the mad scientist have changed over the years. Formerly tragic figures or evil blasphemers, they are now celebrated as brilliant eccentrics. How does the figure of the mad scientist reflect or gloss over attitudes towards mental illness and neuro-diversity? We'll talk about who gets called a mad scientist, who doesn't, what constitutes madness and genius, and how that's changed over the years.

 God knows why they've given me such an unholy time of day for it, but I'm not complaining, because I'm one of those mad ones who actually like the mornings. I will be joined by Julie Hoehn, who will be presenting on mental illness and asylums in the Victorian era. I have no idea who she is but I look forward to meeting her! 

Envisioning A Better Steam Society: Social Issues in Steampunk makes a comeback! In the Auditorium, from 2pm - 4pm:
Come discuss thoughts about finding aesthetic inspiration in a historical era rife with sexism, racism and classist thinking in this roundtable! Can the steampunk subculture come to terms with its problematic past, or are we just repeating history, except with ray guns? Together with the audience, we hope to engage in an open dialogue about whether steampunk confronts or condones the historical ideas behind its inspiration, how nineteenth century thinking is re-interpreted in the present day, and what makes steampunk actually “punk.”

Yes, we do get a full two hours in the afternoon to natter all we want on this issue! Now, the only problem is that the auditorium isn't conducive to creating a roundtable, so it'll be difficult for the usual circle sit-down, but we'll manage. I will facilitate discussion, and everybody else gets to talk. We've done it before; we can do it again. 

After that, go have a nap, rest up, and then join us later in the evening for FIREBRANDS! The Radical Steampunk Party in the party room! If there are conversational threads you'd like to pick up on from Envisioning, come continue them with us. If not, feel free to just come and shoot the shit with steampunk's finest hearts and minds. I'll be in and out because of the concert, but overall, it'll be a very chill party.

On SUNDAY, I end SteamCon with Art, Profit & Capitalism In Steampunk in Regency B, at 11am -12pm.
The Industrial Revolution was the time period where capitalism first began to take hold. Now, the steampunk aesthetic is a new market commodity, and steampunks are a fresh market to tap into. How does this affect the tensions between artists who have to make a living and folks who do it for fun? What is the place of profit in a community that supposedly values re-engineering old things? How can we support our favorite artists, makers and musicians without putting ourselves and themselves out of pocket?

I'm trying very hard to present panel suggestions that ask some difficult questions that I can engage conversation with, rather than stuff that have clear-cut answers and are about info-dumping. There are no absolute answers, and hopefully you'll find the discussions useful to you in the future.

So, come hang out! 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Racist Things Steampunks Are Not Immune To: Silent Tolerance of Racism

Lately we've been seeing a huge boom in steampunk. I think we can agree with this; we can find books on steampunk, we have more steampunk conventions this year than three years ago (possibly over 200% more), and we see steampunk costumes at regular cons too. I've met a lot of people who enjoy steampunk's newfound popularity. Yay, we're going mainstream. Woo. 

Now, I'm not sure if anyone is keeping receipts, but we have a community problem, in which certain personalities in steampunk have become somehow representative of the best in steampunk, mostly because they're smart enough to invest in the ignorance of newcomers to the scene, making them fans while covering up their tracks as they alienate other members of the subculture.

People who have issue with Evelyn Kriete, you know what I mean. 

But it's not fair to keep ragging only on Evelyn, who, as poisonous as she has been to the community, really has built her steampunk career on facilitating a variety of events in steampunk. And when she's criticised, she doesn't spend a whole lot of time creating roundabout arguments defending herself that just gets worse and worse and worse. (I've seen her do this; it gets more and more confusing and less logical, but that's pretty par for the course of defensive people.)

Robert Brown of Abney Park, though, does. 

Now, this is a blog dedicated to anti-racism, so while I understand the public outcry about Evelyn deleting entire lists on GoodReads as a Terrible Thing To Do, I'm hella unsympathetic that this is going to "make steampunk look bad" when Robert Brown has proved himself a patent racist, not once, but twice, and there was nary a murmur. I've given up on responding to every single racist thing out there, and taken to cultivating alternative spaces instead, because that's a much more fruitful use of my time

A while back, "Captian" Robert deleted a fan image off his Facebook wall. Why delete this fan image, a tribute from El Investigador, Mexico's first steampunk magazine? Because it had writing on it. In Spanish. In Robert Brown's memorable words, "If I can't read it, it's spam."

Now I don't know about you but there are a lot of things I can read, and is spam. There are a lot of things I can read, and it's patent rubbish. There're a lot of things I can read, and it is misleading racist vitriol. There are a lot of things I can read, and it's sexist tirades. 

And then there are things I cannot read. 

Like poetry in the mother tongue I have lost to colonialism.

Like the bilingual/multi-dialect work of Gloria Anzaldua articulating a borderlands identity. 

Like revolutionary literature across Latin America and Europe.

Like Jacques Derrida untranslated. 

There's a superb ethnocentrism in insisting in that your environment can only be Anglo, that it must always cater to you, and that you will not only refuse to endorse something to the contrary, something you deem foreign, but also to put it down, insult it as "spam." 

Backed with the institutional power, privilege and shied from backlash that is a benefit of the white supremacist system of North America, to dismiss something from a fan that does not suit your ethnocentrist world-view is a kind of everyday racism. 

It's so common I only had an eyeroll when it happened. 

Then there was the arguments. And the fans coming to his defense. And then the fans going all YAY ROBERT THAT'S RIGHT SPEAK ENGLISH IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY. 

After it became clear what a racist fiasco it was turning out to be, good ol' Captian Robert started deleting things off Facebook. And he's never been called to account for it since then. Abney Park still got to play to large crowds at Steamstock. Robert Brown is still selling albums.

Quite unlike Evelyn Kriete's funnelling fans into steampunk, whereby her methods rely on the genuine curiousity of new steampunk fans, Robert Brown's drawing in of new steampunk fans relies on the consumerist impulse to find new things to like, new music to enjoy in self-centered vicarity.

TANGENT:

This does not mean that Abney Park fans stay in that place of consumerist fetishism; it explains why Robert Brown is never called to account for his actions: on the principle that you can separate the work from the artist, that the support for the art in no way reflects on support for the artist's actions, especially if fans of the art are ignorant of the artist's essential flaws. 

Now, I believe that it is possible to take a work of art on its own. To appreciate how it has been put together as it is. To void it of its context entirely, and come to a value judgement based on this. This is how a lot of us are taught to approach art, and I think it's necessary to be able to do this. 

Nonetheless, this approach is how we allow racists in our midst, accepting their presences as somehow valuable because of the work they produce. 

END TANGENT.

Recently, a young fan of Abney Park wrote to Robert Brown. Why? Because in an Abney Park song (as in many steampunk songs, sadly), the word "gypsy", a common slur, so common so few people recognize it as a slur, comes up. 

I'm going to cross-post excerpts of a writeup tainopunk put on Tumblr, because it's important to hear in her words. I encourage you to go over and read the whole thing:

As many Abney Park fans are aware, the word “Gypsy” comes up in the song “End of Days.”
                               Nomadic tribes are the last of man
                               Pulling caravans across the land
                               Gypsy wives hold their children tight
                               As the new super-power howls through the night!
Until recently, however, it was not brought to Abney Park’s attention that the word “Gypsy,” when used by a non-Roma or non-Romani individual, is an offensive slur at worst and an unkind, obnoxious stereotype at best. I have a Rroma friend who is very uncomfortable attending steampunk concerts or conventions, due to the large amount of stereotyping that goes on towards Romani culture in the steampunk commmunity. Hearing this song was icing on the cake for her - after the first time she heard it, she started crying and tearfully swore she would not have anything more to do with steampunk. I felt awful. 
So, I sent a very polite e-mail to Robert Brown, their lead singer/songwriter. 
I expected benevolent indifference or dismissive “Sorry you were offended” responses, honestly. But what I got was much, much worse.  
Robert Brown replied very angrily and aggressively, doing what many white people do when asked to stop doing something culturally insensitive: he personalized it. He made it all about himself, telling me how I couldn’t judge him or his life, derailing me by talking about my sources and his experiences, and calling the Roma friend who I have (on whose behalf the email was sent) a “distant relation” who was “looking for attention.”  
(Interestingly enough, watch out for RB judging people later - he seems to do it a lot, although of course no one is allowed to do it to him.) 
I’m ashamed of what I did next. 
I backpedaled and apologized. I really admire(d) this guy, and did not want him to be angry with me. I’m so disappointed with myself for it now, but that’s what I did. He didn’t accept the apology, just said “I just think it means ‘nomad’ so it’s fine for me to use it right.” 
I was willing to let it slide. I miserably told my Roma friend (who is the sweetest, kindest person who told me I had done my best, when I hadn’t) I had failed, and I wasn’t going to go the extra mile to find out if Robert Brown, my former idol, sucked just as much as a ton of other white people. 
Unfortunately, he proved it to me himself. 
A week later, [after I’d let the matter drop, after apologizing, and after hearing no further about it from him] he made this little gem of a story in one of his posts:
One of my friends moved in for a call out, after which he called her a troll and a “suburban white kid with an adopted cause,” deleted and blocked her, and eventually deleted the entire post itself – something the good Captain seems fond of doing, as he’s deleted other posts that caused controversy.
Problems with this post:
  • Words don’t come in and out of fashion like the Captain seems to think they do - Gypsy has been used as a slur for a really really long time. No one suddenly decided it’s a bad word to use.
  • Up til now, I had done nothing to indicate to him that he was a racist. I still don’t even think he’s a racist, I just think he’s a privileged jerk.
  • He acts like that because he’s been to Istanbul and collected a few CDs, he knows everything about “Gypsy culture” (lolwhut!?) and he has a right to use this word.
  • He’s lying (to his fans definitely, and maybe to himself) about the content/tone of my initial e-mail
  • Golgol Bordello is on record as being disliked by a lot of Romani/Roma folk because they use the “Gypsy” look and culture (Romani) to make money. Their lead singer is 1/4 Romani. 
 But Santa Maria! I’d love to be the angry, demanding hag of a letter-writer Robert Brown makes me out to be. But since I don’t think I am, I’ll present the facts to the public – that’s right, folks. Fans ands haters alike, here are the emails Robert Brown and I exchanged, for your viewing enjoyment.

This is the first email tainopunk sent, so you can judge for yourself whether Robert Brown's response was warranted:


Robert Brown's response:


So… you’re allowed to use the word “gypsy” however you mean it, but when it means something offensive to someone else, they’re “too caught up in semantics”? And what about that bit “in the US”? That’s part of the problem - people acting like Roma/Romani people are “gypsies” who chill in caravans in Eastern Europe all the time and dance and steal and wear long skirts or whatever. They’re not. They’re real people, with jobs and houses and cars and kids and computers.
And as tainopunk mulled over how to respond, Robert Brown further escalated:




Now.

I want to know why Evelyn Kriete's obnoxious behaviour gets enough hate that con chairs will write open letters to the steampunk fandom calling to excise her from the community, while the steampunk community at large is silent when Robert Brown of Abney Park is openly racist and remains a dominant gateway for new steampunk fans

Is it because Evelyn Kriete is just an organizer and promoter, while Robert Brown is ~an artist~? 
IMPLICATION: That the people working behind the scenes are not as important as the people working on the stage to provide entertainment.

Is it because Evelyn Kriete is a woman while Robert Brown is a cis dudely dude? 
IMPLICATION: Steampunk values its male idols more than its women workers (as demonstrated; Evelyn does work for the steampunk community).

Is it because Evelyn Kriete is a single woman on disability benefits while Robert Brown is a hardworking man of the earth supporting his family through his art?
IMPLICATION: Steampunks do not value people who do not or cannot conform to the nuclear family ideal. Steampunks value art over addressing the pain that racists cause.

Is it because Evelyn Kriete's obnoxious behaviour leaves a longer impression on other organizers, while Robert Brown's racism is just an Internet thing?
IMPLICATION: Steampunks are willing to allow online expressions of racism fly under the radar, as long as it doesn't make them feel like crap offline (but People of Colour affected by racism, well that has no bearing on business whatsoever!).

Is it because either way, calling him out, talking about how racist he is, makes steampunk look worse than it already does? Believe me, I understand; I'm pretty fucking sick of having to defend steampunk from people lampooning it as a subgenre of imperialists and white supremacists. But this is unfair because then many minorities and I also have to deal with the fact that within the community there are imperialists and white supremacists!
IMPLICATION: Steampunks are too busy trying to keep looking good than actually being good.

So this is a call-out. Not of Robert Brown because that's a waste of time; he's demonstrated more than once an inability to engage with any sense of empathy and understanding why he's a goddamn problem. No. Robert Brown's racism is a symptom, not a cause. 

This is a call-out of the steampunk community that will allow this kind of racism to stand.

This is a call-out of the steampunk community that refuses to discuss openly the myriad ways racism manifests in the subculture.

This is a call-out of the steampunk community that remains silent in the face of open racism. 

This is a call-out of the subculture I love and of the community I participate in even though it is ever so alienating every passing year. 

And seriously, like, don't talk to me right now unless you've read this whole list of links because I've just had a deeply unpleasant long conversation with someone I respect about certain assumptions of creative/artistic freedom completely separate from acts of racism and I really do not need to hear about how you're Not A Racist so if you find yourself spouting this, STOP.