#representation struggles

DISCLAIMER: This is going to be a lengthy and very angry rant because most people seem to love Stalking Jack the Ripper series and don't recognize the rampant racism and token diversity plaguing this book. I'd written about it on my IG story but that can only reach so many people. I am Indian and if anyone tries to tell how I, as a PoC, should feel about the butchering of my country's culture, you can shut the hell up.

To start, I'll quote Mark Twain: "Loyalty to the country, always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."

Right. So I'm Indian. And there are a ton of problems plaguing our country, which many don't want to admit, but one thing that we're mad at: white people butchering our country's culture.

Stalking Jack the Ripper is the first book in a series by Kerri Maniscalco and it chronicles how a girl, 17-year-old, aspiring forensic scientist Audrey Rose Wadsworth strives to solve the Jack the Ripper murders in the late 18th century.

Believe me, I tried to love this book. But the more I think about it, the madder I get.

40 pages in, we find out that Audrey's mom was from India. And she had "beautiful honey skin."

.........

Great. The one thing every writer is advised not to do, a published author does.

Also, wtf is honey skin? Don't people know basic geography? THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO THE EQUATOR, THE DARKER YOUR SKIN WILL BE.

Or do they have an aversion to explicitly saying "brown?"

So, coming back to the point. Audrey is biracial. Her mom is the dead PoC. And the closest we get to seeing her explore her Indian heritage is the vague mentions of her grandmother dressing her in saris and her eating chick peas at a local fair (or was it a circus? Someone correct me)

I have a question for Kerri Maniscalco.

Did you not research Indian history?

Didn't you know India was fighting for freedom, emerging from a failed, nation-wide revolt that English historians choose to gloss over?

Why didn't Audrey know what was happening in her mother's country? The Revolt of 1857 and the subsequent freedom movements were an immensely painful time for Indians. My country was looted and plundered and destroyed by colonizers for 200 fucking years because they thought they were "teaching us how to be civilized." I will not have white authors cherrypick pieces of my country's culture for diversity points and wholeheartedly ignore the suffering and history.

Why wasn't she making an effort to stay in touch with her mother's heritage? It could've been the littlest things: speaking a Hindi word, reading through poems of Rabindranath Tagore, anxiously asking her father if there was news from India about what was going on. Why wasn't Audrey Rose facing any problems because of her biracial heritage? It could've made an excellent critique on racial discrimination and colonialism, adding depth to the book and enhancing the themes of feminism (if you want to read a book highlighting this theme, I recommend The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi)

She doesn't even have a non-English name!! The wikia says that Audrey's full name is Audrey Rose Adhira Wadsworth. Because God forbid someone have a non-English name or looks that deviate from tan/honey/gold skin (which don't fucking exist; just say light or dark brown) plus, gemstone-colored eyes. Is there a problem with brown eyes and skin? Oh who am I kidding? Of course there is. They're not gemstone-colored after all. You can't write poetry about them. :/ The least you can do is attribute them to the food that colonized countries used to grow for Europe. Am I right?🙃

Here's to the people gushing over this series and not noticing the blatant token diversity. Like I've kept harping: performative activism doesn't fucking work. If you love a book, fine. Yay. But if you love a book to the point where you refuse to admit that it has problematic themes, then you've got a problem.

Also, if someone comes at me saying feminism in this book is amazing, let me say another thing:

Feminism is supporting every gender, supporting sex workers, supporting the choices that women make. Audrey Rose being disdainful of women who like dresses and makeup and gossiping while thinking that she's not like other girls? That's not feminism. That's just being haughty. Even if you hate someone, doesn't mean you look down on their choices to live their lives.

Posting a screenshot of the ask since Tumblr is stupid and eats it up whenever I try to answer it.

Tbh, I'm constantly in the "disappointed but not surprised" mood. I'd seen some posts about Mara Dyer but I really didn't know about the Graces. Thanks for pointing that out! :)

Also, biracial kids, especially those living outside their country, are coveted, for lack of a better word. Some have significantly lighter skin than their PoC parent and gemstone-colored eyes. Hence, with glee, the author can use terms like honey/tanned/golden-brown to describe them. Because God forbid a character have dark eyes or skin. Or even be fully PoC and have ethnic name. Nope. Only white names are allowed! (Audrey Rose, Mara Dyer, Ariadne Bridgestock🙄). We'll not do our research!

And the sad part? Research wouldn't take much. You can scour Wikipedia entries for the histories and basic understanding of the country. You can explore Quora and Reddit threads to add the small intricacies in the character, like speaking Hindi, or their mother tongue, if we're talking about other countries (endearments or swear words and a lot more), mentioning their favorite food, or books or movies or places. It's all available at their disposal!

You are right. We're more than just sarees and music and spicy food. We're living people with a multitude of cultures and diversity. Every Asian and African country is! Write us as you will write your normal characters, with interests and a personality, instead of stereotyping. And some people (like me) would be happy to answer your questions. You could ask.

Unfortunately, these authors think that making their characters biracial fills up the diversity quota and they deserve a gold star and a cookie for that.

There's some books around with good Indian characters:

1. The Pandava Quartet by Roshani Chokshi

2. Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

3. Ten Things I Hate about Pinky by Sandhya Menon (actually all three Dimpleverse books)

4. The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana

5. Unmarrigeable by Soniah Kamal: a Pride and Prejudice retelling set in Pakistan.

Perhaps, their only downside, the ones set in modern-day, is that they're all set in USA. I would love for some YA fantasy to be set in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (South Asia). Children here are starved for representation (I'm speaking from experience). We need Indian teens, living in India, navigating the culture and giving hope to us all. Trust me, we're seriously in need of this.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Disclaimer: I'm not hating the author. Sandhya Menon has written one of my favorite romance novels (Of Curses and Kisses) and she is an amazing person. I'm just critiquing her book that I know was written years ago but is still being read and being touted as something providing insight about the Indian culture. I'm well aware of the fact that the Indian-American community has their own culture and norms that I might not be aware of. But a lot of non-Indian readers keep saying that this book provides insight into the Indian culture and... I have to correct y'all. The portrayal is hella inaccurate.

1. Indian parents are not gung-ho about marriage, barring the extremely orthodox families in some rural and urban areas. A lot of them want their kids to study, earn degrees, get good jobs so that they can be financially independent. There are very few who start talking about marriage as soon as the girl turns eighteen and usually it's the extended family that starts intruding into our business and asking about marriage (aka annoying Indian aunties 😒)

2. Parents do not care about makeup. In fact, many of them get suspicious if we're putting on makeup (because they think we're going out on a date and snap into overprotective-mode🤦‍♀️)

3. Kajal trend did not die. It is not something of the '70's. It was always there. Big-shot brands like Lakme and Maybelline developed Kajal products that were endorsed and advertized by many famous Indian actresses. We still wear it to parties and marriages.

4. In regards to the arranged marriage scenario: most parents do not allow chance meetings with the guy they've chosen. I know it contradicts my first point but it's either all or nothing. Some give us full freedom to choose our life and partners or they have special meetups with both parties present at one's home to fix the marriage. Allowing Dimple to meet Rishi without informing her of what had transpired between the parents is not done anymore!

5. Just-graduated 18-year-old Dimple wearing salwar-kameez. Again, India's not a country stuck in the 1800's. Most of us don't cover up our bodies like some movies might've led you to believe. Kids don't dress traditionally in their own homes unless they're celebrating festivals. I'm typing this wearing pajamas and sitting on my bed.

6. Addressing their daughter as 'beti'... *sigh* where do I begin? The correct word is 'beta' (pronounced as bae-ta). It's a gender-neutral term of endearment and figuratively means kiddo in Hindi. Some grandparents might use 'beti' occasionally but parents don't. They either have embarrassing nicknames for us or they call us 'beta.'

Conclusion: I'm so sick and tired of the lack of Indian characters in YA literature. Either they're present for half a sentence, they're walking stereotypes or they're disconnected from their culture and heritage. Please, just give me normal Indian kids with normal parents🙏🙏

God knows, how many white characters I've seen and then felt inadequate because I didn't have kids like me to relate to and look up to.