Diversity in Literature & Media (WAS book differences)

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 40622

Rosie asked:

>>>>>>>>>>> Um, I'm not trying to be rude, but could you just 
explain this to me - I don't understand. You thought that most parts 
of the UK were pretty much all-white, with the exception of London & 
other major cities, right, and you thought that most of Scotland was 
all-white too? And this meant that Hogwarts would be all-white, 
because it's located in (probably) Scotland? I don't quite follow 
this because don't we know that students come from all over the UK, 
probably lots of them from London (West Ham, Kings Cross, Diagon 
Alley, etc etc)? And what about people like Parvati and Cho.. did 
you think they must be white too, if it wasn't explicitly stated?
<<<<<<<<<<<

Yes, you have it mostly right.  I have only been to London (well, I 
spent a day in Birmingham on business in a conference room, and I 
had a layover in Shannon) for four days as a tourist, and I didn't 
stray far from London.  I formed the impression that London is 
diverse.  I had no knowledge of any significant numbers of people of 
color in the UK outside of London.  I thought that Scotland was 
pretty much all white.  Sad, but that's what I thought.  

And I suspect if I walked down the street in lots of places in the 
U.S. and asked people the racial composition of the UK and boarding 
schools there, most Americans would say they are entirely or 
predominantly white.

As for whether the students come from London or not, the only thing 
I knew was that the school was *not* in London.  So that meant rural 
areas.  Rural areas that I (incorrectly) thought to be racially 
homogenous.

As far as the areas you mentioned, I do have to smile.  I have *no 
idea* about the racial composition of West Ham, Kings Cross etc.  
Again, sad but true.  I have figured out that Wimbledon is the name 
of a tennis tournament and a subway stop, though.  ;-)

Seriously, it really isn't a scandal that I didn't know this 
information.  I mean, do Brits know the racial composition of Ward 3 
in Washington, D.C.?  How about the Richmond District in San 
Francisco?  I know the answers because I am intimately familiar with 
these areas.  I wouldn't expect someone who had only been a tourist 
in the U.S. for a few days to have any idea, and if their 
assumptions were wrong, I wouldn't hold it against them.

As far as Pavarti and Cho, I figured Cho was likely Asian.  Pavarti 
is a name I didn't recognize.  I didn't believe either was 
necessarily black, however.
 
Rosie:

> I mean, fair enough if people over in America understand very 
>little about the UK, but how far would you take this? 

Uh oh.  A slippery slope!  This is a slippery slope, isn't it!  ;-)

Well, fortunately for me, I don't have to go down this slippery 
slope.  When an author and a publisher are deciding how to market 
and release a book internationally, they have some decisions to 
make.  For the most part, I accept that there may be some edits for 
different markets.  If the author doesn't object, neither do I.

Whew!  Slippery slope deftly avoided.  ;-)

Olly wrote:

>>>>>>>> I wasn't going to get involved in this, but Cindys post did 
annoy me a bit and this just clinched it, sorry if I come off 
angrier than I mean to.  Most of Scotland is... a mix of 
everything.  Glasgow, for instance, is one of the major places that 
immigrants (illegal and otherwise) are housed when they come into 
the country, and the rest quite a happy mix of just about any 
culture you can think of.  <<<<<<<<<<<<<
> 
>>>>>>>>>> Saying that most of Scotland is white, specially if you 
haven't been there, is like the assumption that we all wear kilts, 
eat haggis and have heather growing out of our ears, and that's just 
plain annoying and more importantly Wrong.<<<<<<<<<<<<

Aw, come on.  There's no reason to be annoyed.  I am simply 
uninformed about the racial diversity of Scotland, and am willing to 
admit my ignorance so that Rosie and others will understand the 
foundation of some of the things I've discussed.  

You're supposed to admire me for being secure enough to admit that 
there is something in the world that I actually don't know.  It's 
part of my charm, you see.  ;-)

Besides, this thread and others like it have helped educate me.  So 
my prior erroneous belief that boarding schools in the UK and 
Scotland are racially homogenous can be removed from the tottering 
heap of Things Cindy Doesn't Know.  One down, thousands to go.  ;-)

Besides, you're not supposed to be *annoyed.*  You're supposed to 
smirk and roll your eyes at the so-called educated and reasonably 
well-traveled Americans who don't know *squat* about the world.  ;-)

Anyway, speaking for myself, I didn't intend to say that Scotland is 
all-white.  That would be a rather foolish thing for me to say, as I 
had no idea.  I intended to convey the idea that I *assumed* that 
Scotland was not racially diverse, but I'll take your word for it 
that it is.  

But your remarks clarifying the racial diversity in Scotland really 
don't undermine the central point that I was trying to make, which 
is this:  many, many Americans in the target audience for this book 
have *no clue* about the racial diversity of boarding schools in the 
U.K., and they might not pick up on it from reading the book if the 
book isn't explicit about it.

Cindy (who must be getting really confused, because she genuinely 
assumed that "most of Scotland" *is* white because she was unaware 
that whites are a minority race in Scotland, but who hopes someone 
will set her straight if this is the case)