mulatta (fiction) fatigue

0 Comments

1. 

   Martine

   26 Jun 2010 Reply

   Zetta, can you say more about what you mean regarding her not needing to be mixed? The post title is honest yet seems a bit dismissive.

   I'm biased because I know Heidi and I'm ridiculously happy for her success with The Girl. She's been an inspiration to me as a writer and naming myself as woman who identifies as mixed and Black--that I can completely be both and no one can limit that. Even if I didn't know Heidi I would be grateful that someone wrote a mixed cultural narrative because that is an experience I want to be shared more and one I am currently writing about. That Rachel can grow into holding all of herself as mixed, Black and Danish is a great offering to readers. I read the book months ago but haven't written a blog review because I just finally set up my blog and it's on my top 5 priority list.

   I've always wondered if you'd ever consider going to the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival that Heidi co-founded. www.mxroots.org. It's a wonderful time that I look forward to every June.

   Hope you're having a wonderful day!

2. 

   elliottzetta

   26 Jun 2010 Reply

   Hey, Martine--if the author's your friend, then of course you would be happy for her success--and I don't begrudge her that. I'm just tired of what seems like a trend in the "new" mulatta fiction, aspects of which I listed in my post. I have a longer essay that I wrote years ago which details my "mulatta fatigue"--I can send you that, if you're interested; don't feel like taking up space with it here on my blog. Writing a bicultural narrative isn't the same, in my mind, as writing about a biracial protagonist--and I weary of authors who seem to rely on their own biographical data. It can start to feel like a gimmick. As I said, the story was interesting and original, but like Sapphire's protag in Push, I felt there were too many crosses strapped to one girl's back. I didn't buy the book, and wouldn't have b/c of my "fatigue," but my friend Kate sent it to me--she's mixed race, too, and also had issues with it. But those are just our opinions, and I'm glad it means a lot to you and others, and I will share my copy with another reader. The Mixed Roots event didn't appeal to me; there's a common perception that mixed-race people are part of some special "club," and I'm not interested in affirming that idea. I'm interested in hybridity, not just biraciality. That's also why I don't submit to anthologies about mixed-race women's experiences...

3. 

   Ari Reading in Color

   27 Jun 2010 Reply

   I actually do want to read this book but I understand what you mean by mulatta fatigue. There do seem to be a lot of books with mixed race main characters who are very pretty, bullied by Black children and not understood by whute people.

   I like what the author is doing with the Mixed Roots Festival though. I think it helps people to know that they aren't alone, not that they are better or belong to an elite club, on the contrary I think many mixed race people feel like outsiders. To me, the Mixed Roots Fest seeks to make people of mixed race feel comfortable and proud.

4. 

   elliottzetta

   27 Jun 2010 Reply

   Can I send my copy your way, Miss A? It's not YA, but does have a teen protagonist...

   I think the festival's great for folks who want a space to celebrate themselves. When I was 18, an event like that would have been thrilling, but as an adult, I now know that I don't have anything more in common with a room full of mixed-race people than I do a room full of random black people. There needs to be something more to build a bond than the fact of race...I go to conferences based on my interests, not my race.

5. 

   Ari Reading in Color

   30 Jun 2010 Reply

   I can understand your point but at the same time, I can't help but feel that if you were put in a room with random black people you would have something in common with them. Sometimes when I'm one of the few Black people in the room, I approach the few other Black people and we start talking. But in a whole roomful, well, that could be a different experience.

   I would love to read it, should I email you? Is there any particular book you want me to send you back (don't hesitate to ask!)?

• 

  elliottzetta

  30 Jun 2010 Reply

  Nope--don't send me a thing! I'll get it in the mail to your PO box at the end of this week, and I've also asked my publisher to send you copies of Wish for your blogiversary giveaway...

6. 

   Martine

   30 Jun 2010 Reply

   I agree Zetta that I wouldn't assume commonality based on race, class usually dictates conversation cues. But I go to Mixed Roots *Film and Literary* Festival to be an artist. Academic conferences are a whole different thing.

   I would love to read your essay if you don't mind sharing. :) I'm sorry to hear you've experienced that certain mixed people act like it's a special club. It's troubling to me when I hear that because it makes me feel like again I have to be on the defense in being myself because someone will be offended and assume I'm trying to be special by identifying as both a black woman and a mixed woman. I know you don't intend that in sharing but without Mixed Roots encouraging my writing life to claim everything I would still be dancing around trying not to offend everyone who attaches their judgment on my naming. I know you were not doing that to me or anyone, just what came up in my mind.

   I'm curious what you think of Zadie Smith's essay "Speaking in Tongues." I appreciate the whole piece for the focus on language and performance of multiple selves, code-switching in another way. This portion rings closely to my own experience, minus the shame of the singular re. Joyce:

   "But to mention the double is to suggest shame at the singular. Joyce insists on her varied heritage because she fears and is ashamed of the singular black. I suppose it's possible that subconsciously I am also a tragic mulatto, torn between pride and shame. In my conscious life, though, I cannot honestly say I feel proud to be white and ashamed to be black or proud to be black and ashamed to be white. I find it impossible to experience either pride or shame over accidents of genetics in which I had no active part. I understand how those words got into the racial discourse, but I can't sign up to them. I'm not proud to be female either. I am not even proud to be human—I only love to be so. As I love to be female and I love to be black, and I love that I had a white father."

   http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/feb/26/speaking-in-tongues-2/?pagination=false

   Thanks for writing back. I always appreciate your thoughts. :)

• 

  elliottzetta

  30 Jun 2010 Reply

  Hey, Martine--I sent the essay your way via email. I'm glad you find a kind of sanctuary at the conference--that's important. Are all the films and books featured at the conference about mixed-race people? I don't focus on biraciality in my writing, though it obviously comes up in my memoir. I have a huge investment in hybridity, and the myriad ways that manifests in the lives of people...all my closest friends are hybrid in some way, whether that's about culture, ethnicity, language, immigrant status, sexuality, or class. So race is only one small part of a much larger conversation about "two-ness"; I would attend a conference on hybridity that welcomed ALL of my friends...I liked Zadie's piece, but she's not American and I think that comes across in her essay. I wouldn't try to stop anyone from attending a conference or checking multiple boxes on census forms--it's not my choice, but everyone should get to self-define--*that* I will defend, if nothing else.

7. 

   Ari Reading in Color

   1 Jul 2010 Reply

   OK you totally didn't need to do that but thank you for the extra copies of AWAM! I'm thrilled to spread the word anyway I can. ooo *planning things* And I'm going to send you something, I just have to figure out what :)