The fans of color and anti-racist white fans did start out in a very US-centric, black/white dynamic, since many of us were black or white Americans and most of the characters or actors in question were black Americans/Canadians/Brits. We've started working on this more, either being less specific in the terms we use to depict offense or using fewer black and white American examples in favor of more international and ethnically diverse examples.
There are also more Asian, Carribean, and Commonwealth (of color and white) fans speaking out on these issues (er, is India part of the Commonwealth?). It is likely that in the next couple of weeks, http://del.icio.us/ibarw/india will have new posts by Indian fans. There are a couple of posts there now from last year's International Blog Against Racism Week, but I don't recognize the names and can't say anything about those people.
As for Indian characters in the media, there's Kumar in Harold & Kumar, which isn't one of those things fans do a lot of fannish stuff with, but they do like it. And also Sanjay in Weeds. And I know that there are some fans who like Bollywood films and musicals, but I can't think of anyone in particular off the top of my head, and I don't know if you like those. And Bend It Like Beckham, and the woman from Bend It Like Beckham is on ER now. (Or was on ER recently, I don't keep up with ER except for commercials.)
From my experience, if you want to meet other Indian fans, you'll have to talk about being Indian in fannish online settings. I never knew there were so many black people in fandom until I started talking about race. You could start by submitting this post to metafandom.
You might also want to check out deadbrowalking. Membership is currently closed, but you can friend the community right now, and join later when it opens back up.
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on 2007-07-31 01:03 am (UTC)The fans of color and anti-racist white fans did start out in a very US-centric, black/white dynamic, since many of us were black or white Americans and most of the characters or actors in question were black Americans/Canadians/Brits. We've started working on this more, either being less specific in the terms we use to depict offense or using fewer black and white American examples in favor of more international and ethnically diverse examples.
There are also more Asian, Carribean, and Commonwealth (of color and white) fans speaking out on these issues (er, is India part of the Commonwealth?). It is likely that in the next couple of weeks, http://del.icio.us/ibarw/india will have new posts by Indian fans. There are a couple of posts there now from last year's International Blog Against Racism Week, but I don't recognize the names and can't say anything about those people.
As for Indian characters in the media, there's Kumar in Harold & Kumar, which isn't one of those things fans do a lot of fannish stuff with, but they do like it. And also Sanjay in Weeds. And I know that there are some fans who like Bollywood films and musicals, but I can't think of anyone in particular off the top of my head, and I don't know if you like those. And Bend It Like Beckham, and the woman from Bend It Like Beckham is on ER now. (Or was on ER recently, I don't keep up with ER except for commercials.)
From my experience, if you want to meet other Indian fans, you'll have to talk about being Indian in fannish online settings. I never knew there were so many black people in fandom until I started talking about race. You could start by submitting this post to
You might also want to check out