Research:Large to Small Scale, Avoiding Homogenizing East Asian Cultures, & ParallelingΒ Regions Appropriately
Iβm currently working on a project set in a secondary world, but with nations that roughly correspond to major cultures in our world.Β
By that I mean Iβm trying to create amalgamations of cultural groups. For example, one country corresponds to Germanic cultures, one to Celtic, one to Mediterranean. There are, so far, also countries that correspond to Eastern Asia - a mixture of Japanese, Chinese and Korean, mainly - South America, βArab countriesβ and so on. My first question, in that regard, would be whether or not this concept - creating a βvibeβ that reads Eastern Asian, for example, but is not one specific culture - is offensive and if it is, what I can do to solve it.Β
The project Iβm working on makes use of so called FaceClaims, which means that, for example, actors are used to represent fictional characters. If I based the country on China alone, then I could only use Chinese FCs and would thus greatly limit the representation. A solution I thought of was to have each country be inofficially split up in itself, so the βEast Asianβ country would have a βChineseβ region, a βKoreanβ region and so on. Secondly, I have a desert region that I thought would be nice for an βAfricanβ (I am very much aware that there is no such thing as an βAfrican cultureβ, so bear with me) cultural group. For this βcountryβ, I thought of a loose union between different nations of people. There, Iβm stuck - should I choose one region in Africa, letβs say West Africa, and base each nation on one specific peoples there? Or should I create my own βAfrican-inspiredβ cultures? Or should I choose cultures from all around Africa and base a nation on each?
My third question goes along a similar line: The βculturesβ I have chosen for the countries are by far not all there are in the world. There is no country for Native Americans, for example, none for South-Eastern Asians (unless I integrate them with my βIndiaβ), no Central Asian, etc. I know it is impossible to include all cultures there are in the world, but how do I choose which ones to represent in a concept like mine? I donβt want to exclude them, but I simply cannot create as many countries as there are cultural groups.
One possible solution I thought of specifically refers to Jewish people, since I feel it is important to represent them more in fantasy writing. My current idea was to have their story go similar to that of our world: Exile, long travels, and a split into groups, one of which would be theΒ Ashkenazim, living somewhere near the Germanic country, and the other would be the Sephardim, which I imagined to live in between the βArabβ and βAfricanβ country, in a semi-autonomous city-state. But is it offensive to adapt what happened to the Jewish people in a secondary world or should I make it so that they have a more positive past and life, no exile like there was in our world? As far as I know, the exile is an important part of Jewish identity and cultural understanding, but I thought Iβd ask anyway.
Iβm going to preface this that some of this wording might sound very harsh, but I recognize you are genuinely asking out of a place of respect but you just arenβt sure what the best wayΒ toΒ respect the worldβs diversity is. The problem is itβs still not quite respectful enough, and shows sometimes glaring ignorance of nuances in the region.
I would also like to remind people that just becauseΒ yourΒ exact question hasnβt been answered to the full scope youβre looking at, doesnβt mean you canβt get an answer as a whole. For example, weβve discussed the concept of how and when to mix different cultures in the East Asian tag. Shira will cover your questions regarding Jewish representation below.Β
However, Iβm going to specifically tackle this from a research and worldbuilding perspective, primarily talking about a history of forced homogenization and how to avoid recreating colonialism/imperialism.
Notes on Language and False Equivalences
For starters, basically all of these groups are too broad. By a long shot. Either they flatten sometimes dozens to thousands of cultures (βNative American countryβ is in the thousands, βWest Africaβ is in the hundreds, βChina, Japan, Koreaβ is in the dozens, if not hundreds, same deal with India). This language use makes people pretty uncomfortable, because it implies that the basis is stereotypes. It implies you havenβt done research, or, at least, havenβt done enough. When discussing nuance, itβs best to imply you understand there is nuanceβ like you did with Africa and Jewish culture, but neglected to do everywhere else.
You also go very broad with all non-European cultures, but narrow down a general homogeneous part for your European analogues, by picking Germanic and Celtic.
This double standard is something that is exactly what we try to draw attention to at WWC: to our ears, it sounds like βIβm taking Germanic peoples for Europe, but Iβm going to mix three East Asian countries because those two regions have the equivalent amount of sameness that I can pass it off.β
While that sounds specific to just you, itβs not. Weβve received this type of question dozens of times in the past and itβs a general cultural attitude weβve faced lots and lots and lots of times. Western society makes youΒ thinkΒ the equivalence is equal, because theyβve flattened all non-European countries with the single broadest brush, but itβs not.
I would also caution you on relying on media images for face claims, because media images only represent the idealized version of beauty. Weβve written multiple description guides that point out how much variety exists within all ethnic groups and how people seeing us as all the same is a microaggression.
You are right that you canβt tackle all of the worldβs diversity into your worldbuilding, because, well, there is so much. The core of your question is basicallyΒ howΒ to narrow it down, which is what Iβm going to tackle.
My suggestion is twofold:Β
Research big, top level things, over a few centuriesβ namely, keep track of empires that have tried to take over places and look at what groups Western society lumps together when it spreads multiple regions.
Build small with a focus on a very specific place and groupβ namely, pick the smallest possible region you can and see what you have to build from there.
Researching Big
Researching big helps you catch whatΒ notΒ to flatten, or at least, where flattening might be reinforcing situations that a government perpetuated. Iβm going to focus on East Asia since thatβs the bulk of your question, and itβs also where Iβve spent some time worldbuilding. The principles apply to all groups youβre trying to research.
East Asiaβ namely Japan, Korea, and China, although that is an oversimplification itselfβ is composed ofΒ twoΒ empires: China and Japan. This makes homogenization extremely risky because youβre touching two nerves of countries trying to take over inΒ veryΒ recent history.
China has taken over a very large swath of land over centuries, and still has independence fights to this day from their recent history. As a result, they have both a roughly overreaching culture because the empire is so old, and a very fractured culture with over 50 recognized ethnic groups. When you think of βChineseβ you usually think of the dominant Han Chinese, but because of its old empire roots you can get a giant variety. In modern day, some provinces have kept their individual culture, while others have been part of China for so long there is a general βsamenessβ to them that can capture the flare you want.
Japanβs imperialism is similarly recent, only ending in 1947, and it left wounds across the Pacific (including Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia). Many of their actions are classified as war crimes. Theyβve also erased their own Indigenous population by insisting only one ethnicity lived in the country. Both of these factors make mixing Japan into an βEast Asianβ mix tricky. Japanβs culture, while heavily impactedΒ byΒ China and Korea, is pretty distinct because of its island status.
Big research also lets you see the neighbouring areas at a time borders might not have been the same. For example, in the 1600s, China was much smaller because the Manchu External Expansion hadnβt happened yet. As a result, places we now think of as βChineseβ actually werenβt, and youβll have to account for these differences in your worldbuilding. You can determine this by looking up historical maps/empires, which might require book research (libraries are wonderful).
This does not mean you can ignore recent history, however. Because the story is set in modern day, people will be viewing it through a modern lens. You need to research both the modern and the historical context in order to understand how to go about crafting a respectful world.
So thatβs stuff you wouldβve discovered by big research. By tracking empire movements, you can see where old wounds are and what historical contexts exist within whatever region youβre pulling from. If you take North America, you can see how each individual tribe is cast aside in favour of settler stories; in Africa, you can see how multiple empires wanted to plunder the land and didnβt care who it was; in the Middle East, you can see both the recent military involvement, the historical Ottomans, and the historical Persians.
Build Small
You can also see what empires influenced their regions for long enough to create a similar-ish culture throughout multiple regions, which can help you extract the essence youβre looking for. I would add a very large caution to only do this for historical empires where those who suffered under the regime are not fighting in present day/ have living memory of it (such as incorporating too much of England, France, or Spain in the Americas, along with the two examples above).
Now you can build small. If you wanted to give a sense of, say, coastal China with a heavy amount of trade, you can pick a major port city in China and figure out the pluralismΒ in relation to that city. What parts identify it as Chinese (architecture, governance, food, general religious practicesβ folklore changes by region, but the general gist of practices can remain similar enough to get a vibe), and what parts are borrowed from a distinct enough culture theyβre noticeably different?
By going from a city level, you can imply pluralism by throwing in asides of differences βout thereβ that shows youβve thought about it, without cramming your world full of cultures you canβt fit in the plot. You can then also narrow down what to include based on map proximity: if thereβs an easy sea or land path to an Egyptian analogue, youβre probably going to at least hint at it. This is a known historical trade, btw. Egyptian blue and Han purple are made of similar substances, pointing to an ancient cultural link.
You can research this by simply googling the country and looking under its history in Wikipedia. If you look up βChinaβ, you can see βImperial Unificationβ as one of its history points. βJapanβ similarly gets you the Meiji period. Turkey shows the Ottoman empire. You can also look up βempires in [region]β that will give you a similar overview. This even works for places you donβt think have historical empires, such as North America (the pre-colonization section notes several).
This also is a starting place for what the borders wouldβve been during any given time period, and gives you places to potentially factor in military involvement and recent strife. This is where modern research comes in handy, because you can get an idea of what that strife looked like.
Hope this gives you an idea how to go about worldbuilding a diverse population, and how to avoid paralleling recent wounds.Β
~ Mod Lesya
Regarding Your Jewish Characters
I think itβs valid to reflect our real history in fantasy although if you dwell too much on the suffering aspects and not the βrichly varied cultural traditionsβ aspects youβll probably lose some of us because suffering-porn written from the outside gets old fast (if youβre Jewish yourself you 200% have the right to write this, of course.) Human Jewish characters living in pockets in fake-northern-Europe and fake-Mediterranea and fake-North-Africa (or even Fake China and Fake India; weβre there, too) is actually injecting some well-needed historical accuracy back into a genre thatβs been badly whitewashed, gentilewashed, etc by imagining a Europe where nobody but white gentiles existed until they conveniently popped into existence during whatever era the writer thinks is appropriate.
In other words, if your fake Germany has a Jewish neighborhood in its largest city, thatβs a way of making pseudo-European fantasy more realistic and less -washy, and is overall a good move, despite the fact that the destruction of the temple is the reason we were in Germany in the first place. (I meanβ¦ itβs not like youβre planning on sitting there writing about Tisha b'Av itself, right? You donβt have to say βAnd the reason there are Jews here is because a bazillion years ago, we wound up getting scatteredβ just to have Jews.)
By the way, having myself written secondary-world fantasy where entire countries, plural, get to be majority-Jewish, and 100% free of on-screen antisemitism, I think both ways are valid.
βShira
