Digital Project: Assessing RaceFail '09

Table of Contents
Project Overview
Background: RaceFail '09
Findings: Participants
Keyword Case Study: Black and White
Challenges and Future Applications
Special Features

Background: RaceFail '09

January 2019 marks ten years since the imbroglio referred to as RaceFail '09 first erupted. RaceFail '09 has been highly documented, both after and during the event, which stretched on for months, if not years. While, at first, it was tempting to lump RaceFail '09 in with other LiveJournal-based events, such as Strikethrough and Boldthrough, RaceFail quickly became something much larger, not a wank but a sea change in the depiction and discussion of race in SFF fandom.

At the risk of adding Yet Another Post about RaceFail '09, I will briefly provide context on this page before moving to the heart of my project. Many have written about RaceFail in far greater detail, and I strongly sugggest the links below, as they have been instrumental to my own research:

- Ann Somerville's Themed Summary in Large Friendly Letters
- rydra_wong's meticulous collection of links
- a discursive timeline posted by Avalon's Willow
- the FanLore entry on RaceFail '09

Briefly, RaceFail '09 was a perfect storm of conflict within the sff community, beginning with sf author Elizabeth Bear's LiveJournal post on "writing the other," in which Bear argued against essentializing characters of color in sf, and offering some of the ways she tried to avoid doing so. Two women of color, Avalon's Willow, an Afro-Trinidadian blogger, and Deepa D., an Indian blogger and writer, posted rebuttals to Bear. Deepa D.'s esssay response (which is no longer publicly available), "I Didn't Dream of Dragons," touched on colonialism and sff, while Avalon's Willow wrote an open letter to Bear in which she pointed out Bear's own implementation of racial stereotypes in her fiction. Bear responded to both women, acknowledging her own shortcomings while also clarifying some of her statements. However, as all posts were public, many others could, and did, join into the conversation, commenting on these posts and creating posts of their own.

Over the course of the next two months, the conversation(s) shifted and derailed, particularly as many clashes pitted pro writers and authors against fans and readers. One of the uglier derailments occurred when authors Will Shetterly and Kathryn Cramer "outed" the legal name of LJ user coffeeandink. What began as a conversation about the absence of characters of color in sf and the marginalization of fans and authors of color morphed, at its worst, into a fight about privilege (and the lack of acknowledging it), tone policing, and pseudonymity. Many were quick to blame the culture of LiveJournal for the nastier behavior exhibited--as one user on a related MetaFilter post stated, "LiveJournal has a house style of bitchiness." And yet, a year after Bear's first post, author N.K. Jemisin offered compelling evidence for the importance of RaceFail '09 as the beginning of "the big thaw for the SFF field," citing an increased overall awareness and inclusion of fans and authors of color within sff, and an increased willingness to engage in discussions about race.

In the almost-decade since RaceFail '09, the ways in which fans communicate with authors and one another have continued to shift. Many have turned to Twitter and Tumblr (although, as of December 5, Tumblr's decision to ban all NSFW content may yet signal another shift in fandom spaces). Fandom (particularly on Tumblr) has increasingly embraced concepts associated with social justice. There has also been significant backlash against this turn in sff fandom, as seen most vividly in the Sad/Rabid Puppies debacles of the past few years. RaceFail '09 continues to shape the way we interact, as writers, as fans, as readers, as regular participants in online communication (which is far, far more of us than it was ten years ago).