Phietadix
Auror
One thing that I found myself often on the fence about when doing Worldbuilding for worlds set during Classical Antiquity, which for me is most of my worlds, is how to handle slavery within said worlds
My understanding is that the dynamics of slavery were very different in that time period than in the chattel slavery of later European imperialism and what occurred in America. Slavery was usually done as a result of warfare; many of the people being enslaved were from the same basic culture as the ones doing the enslavement; similarly, and related to the previous, many of those enslaved we're from societys that themselves practiced slavery; and finally, slaves often had more rights and easier paths to becoming freeman.
All the above being said, writing will always be viewed in light of the time in which it was written and in light of the time in which it is being read; and slavery discussions in our time are rooted in American and Western European chattel slavery.
As a result of all of this, I find myself wondering how slavery should be handled in this type of work. Leaving it out seems dishonest, and as if we are only showing the good of a very morally grey part of history. On the other hand, including it means having to overcome the cognitive biases of the reader towards the present situation.
On top of all of this is the fact that I am very, very, white. While I am working to overcome my own racist biases and history, I still benefit a lot from white privilege, and I still live in a very white are. Because of this my whiteness is absolutely going to come into play when writing about a very black topic in current discourse; even if slavery in Classical Antiquity did tend be more white on white than in later times (and was happening when the modern day "race" distinctions we're not relevant concepts. Xenophobia being the problem of the time rather then modern racism.
What do the others on this forum think of this perspective? What do I get right, what parts of this are racist bullshit? What are your own thoughts on the topic as a whole, and had how has it affected your own writing (or Worldbuilding, if you're like me and never getting around to the actual "writing" part of this "
My understanding is that the dynamics of slavery were very different in that time period than in the chattel slavery of later European imperialism and what occurred in America. Slavery was usually done as a result of warfare; many of the people being enslaved were from the same basic culture as the ones doing the enslavement; similarly, and related to the previous, many of those enslaved we're from societys that themselves practiced slavery; and finally, slaves often had more rights and easier paths to becoming freeman.
All the above being said, writing will always be viewed in light of the time in which it was written and in light of the time in which it is being read; and slavery discussions in our time are rooted in American and Western European chattel slavery.
As a result of all of this, I find myself wondering how slavery should be handled in this type of work. Leaving it out seems dishonest, and as if we are only showing the good of a very morally grey part of history. On the other hand, including it means having to overcome the cognitive biases of the reader towards the present situation.
On top of all of this is the fact that I am very, very, white. While I am working to overcome my own racist biases and history, I still benefit a lot from white privilege, and I still live in a very white are. Because of this my whiteness is absolutely going to come into play when writing about a very black topic in current discourse; even if slavery in Classical Antiquity did tend be more white on white than in later times (and was happening when the modern day "race" distinctions we're not relevant concepts. Xenophobia being the problem of the time rather then modern racism.
What do the others on this forum think of this perspective? What do I get right, what parts of this are racist bullshit? What are your own thoughts on the topic as a whole, and had how has it affected your own writing (or Worldbuilding, if you're like me and never getting around to the actual "writing" part of this "