Decolonizing Fiction with Antoinette Van Sluytman

Antoinette's breakout session is called "Decolonizing Fiction: The Nuance of Representation"

Antoinette Van Sluytman (center) appears with ASL interpreter Caroline

Antoinette Van Sluytman is a speculative writer, graphic designer, junior literary agent, part-time museum and writing convention volunteer, and freelance illustrator with a background in traditional fine art, having attended many local art shows in San Diego, California. While studying for her bachelors in graphic design at The NewSchool of Architecture and Design as an honors student, Antoinette works as a part-time literary assistant at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, helping illustrators and writers with highlight campaigns and editorial development. Antoinette also volunteers at the African Diaspora Museum & Research Center and at writing nonprofit organization, WriteHive, as a diversity ally, artist professional in residence, and moderator. Antoinette considers herself an entrepreneurial scholartist who advocates for countering literary hegemony through speculative radicalism and diverse narratives within the mediums of art and writing.

Antoinette begins with a discussion of what Colonization was and is, including the -isms that came with it, including sexism, ableism, homophobia, classism, imperialism, and racism.

Colonization was about power. Power was about wealth. And wealth was about land... [and controlling the labor of other people.] ...And maintaining a pipeline of wealth for the colonizers.

Antoinette talks about the pitfalls of our Western patterns of storytelling and how we project it into our fiction. Patterns like a hero with an enemy to defeat, and the lack of matriarchal systems in fiction. Where are the matriarchies in fiction? Or equating the color black with evil, which is a cultural thing. Or how the color red has different meanings in China than in the west...

Story structure (i.e., the hero's journey) is also discussed. "Villains may not be a person but a system." Self-actualization can be seen as a form of freedom to achieve. The examples of different narrative structures Antoinette shared included Kishōtenkentsu, a 4 act narrative structure 1) introduction 2) development 3) twist or catalyst 4) conclusion - different parts of story come together in a finale. 

Antoinette also discusses the way we write different ways of speaking - and asks us to be aware of the negative impact of other-izing it (like by using italics for words in non-English language).

There's lots more covered, including tropes to avoid, and the importance of un-colonizing our minds and the choices we make - for example Antoinette points out that we scorn the Maasai cultural practice of drinking a mix of cow blood and milk but we drink coca-cola, a mix of acid and sugar! 

One more great point made by Antoinette in this presentation:

"Diversity is a spectrum and not a monolith that we can conform to... Diversity is more than just skin." —Antoinette Van Sluytman