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rainwatersparkThis is a complicated issue, but I tend to lean towards "Don't review outside of your lane if you can avoid it."
Here's my example. I've seen a review for a book about a white character in Hong Kong, written by a white reviewer who lives in Asia (but not Hong Kong or China, I should mention). The reviewer was upset about the white character being shown to be knowledgeable about Hong Kong customs, saying that was "centering whiteness."
And I was like...okay. If the reviewer had been Asian, I would say they're entitled to their opinion. However, they're not, and I happen to disagree with them.
I do roll my eyes at the trope of "white character competent in Asian setting." I think it's uncreative. But I wouldn't get worked up about it. Now, if the white character is shown to be better than Asians at being Asian, that's where I start harping about bad representation. But "as good as" only earns an eyeroll from me, and then moving on. Because it does actually happen (hello, white professors of East Asian history), and especially considering the setting of Hong Kong, which does actually have a lot of white people there, I don't care quite as much.
I only view this situation as "centering whiteness" in the sense that white authors always seem to default to writing about white characters, regardless of the setting. But that's a much broader problem than one individual book. Again, I'm willing to discuss this issue with other Asians, but not necessarily with white reviewers.
This same reviewer, on the other hand, gave a glowing 5-star review to a book that I overall liked, but had problems with due to the fact that it portrayed Chinese characters as conservative, prejudiced traditionalists, featured the sole named Asian (Chinese) character as the closest thing to an antagonist, and basically was just overall problematic for portraying a person of color as the most prejudiced person in the book.
The point is: if you're not from a certain marginalized group, you're probably not going to be in tune with which tropes are harmful to that group. That's just a fact. I don't feel comfortable talking about representation outside of my experiences because I know this is true. Conversely, I don't like it when people talk for me. I sometimes disagree with other people who share my marginalizations about certain things, but those are in-group discussions to have. I never like being told what I "should" be upset about, because hey! Things are nuanced! Issues are nuanced! People are going to approach things differently depending on their experiences! Even Asians vs. Asian Americans disagree on things because our experiences are fundamentally different!
So, to conclude with a pro-tip: If you want to comment on representation of a marginalized group you're not part of, ask people who are actually from that group to provide their opinions. Not someone "close" or "adjacent" to a group—someone actually from that group.
Here's my example. I've seen a review for a book about a white character in Hong Kong, written by a white reviewer who lives in Asia (but not Hong Kong or China, I should mention). The reviewer was upset about the white character being shown to be knowledgeable about Hong Kong customs, saying that was "centering whiteness."
And I was like...okay. If the reviewer had been Asian, I would say they're entitled to their opinion. However, they're not, and I happen to disagree with them.
I do roll my eyes at the trope of "white character competent in Asian setting." I think it's uncreative. But I wouldn't get worked up about it. Now, if the white character is shown to be better than Asians at being Asian, that's where I start harping about bad representation. But "as good as" only earns an eyeroll from me, and then moving on. Because it does actually happen (hello, white professors of East Asian history), and especially considering the setting of Hong Kong, which does actually have a lot of white people there, I don't care quite as much.
I only view this situation as "centering whiteness" in the sense that white authors always seem to default to writing about white characters, regardless of the setting. But that's a much broader problem than one individual book. Again, I'm willing to discuss this issue with other Asians, but not necessarily with white reviewers.
This same reviewer, on the other hand, gave a glowing 5-star review to a book that I overall liked, but had problems with due to the fact that it portrayed Chinese characters as conservative, prejudiced traditionalists, featured the sole named Asian (Chinese) character as the closest thing to an antagonist, and basically was just overall problematic for portraying a person of color as the most prejudiced person in the book.
The point is: if you're not from a certain marginalized group, you're probably not going to be in tune with which tropes are harmful to that group. That's just a fact. I don't feel comfortable talking about representation outside of my experiences because I know this is true. Conversely, I don't like it when people talk for me. I sometimes disagree with other people who share my marginalizations about certain things, but those are in-group discussions to have. I never like being told what I "should" be upset about, because hey! Things are nuanced! Issues are nuanced! People are going to approach things differently depending on their experiences! Even Asians vs. Asian Americans disagree on things because our experiences are fundamentally different!
So, to conclude with a pro-tip: If you want to comment on representation of a marginalized group you're not part of, ask people who are actually from that group to provide their opinions. Not someone "close" or "adjacent" to a group—someone actually from that group.
