D&D 5E African campaign setting, "Wagadu Chronicles" being developed by Twin Drums

[Sacrosanct]

This nonsense again?
According to his facebook he was born in Italy and studied in Berlin, so why would he have more "right" to make an African setting then any other European?

Not sure if it is wise to already also do a online game for it. Things like that take a lot of resources to make them at least adequate, let alone good. Unless he has backing with deep pockets he might stretch himself a bit too thin.

You do understand that someone can be born in one country but have a cultural background of another, right?

Cultural appropriation isn't nonsense. It's a real thing.

 

[Derren]

You do understand that someone can be born in one country but have a cultural background of another, right?

Cultural appropriation isn't nonsense. It's a real thing.

Cultural appropriation, especially when you link it to skin colour like you do here, is complete nonsense. Just being black does not make someone an expert in all cultures that existed in Africa. This guy was born in Italy and studied in Germany. He is European and him writing about Africa is as much appropriation as a white European doing it.

Not to mention that there is no African culture in the first place as Africa consists out of a lot of different cultures and even when you grew up in one part of Africa you would not have much clue or "right" to speak of another, possibly dead culture on the other side of the continent.

 

[slipshot762]

"god forbid a poor pale skin such as myself"

Thats right, I doubt anyone would call foul if a black DM running the setting portrayed any of the setting inhabitants in a way that would be deemed objectionable if a white person did so, but I suspect you know this already.

No one is going to be in a slobbering outrage if you play in this campaign.

Not play it, DM it, and the first time a village is portrayed as less than an advanced empire some people will call you racist for it, of that I have no doubt.

The hyperbole doesn't help your argument.

I consider the very notion of this utter non-problem of "appropriation" be hyperbole because it is never consistently applied. Who invented pants? Because if your ethnic group did not then take them off...very absurd.

The only thing people get concerned about is when someone takes another culture and tries to profit off it.

This is not universally true as everyone is apparently free to profit from western or european culture, but how dare any westerner or european derived person return the favor.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Cultural appropriation, especially when you link it to skin colour like you do here, is complete nonsense. Just being black does not make someone an expert in all cultures that existed in Africa. This guy was born in Italy and studied in Germany. He is European and him writing about Africa is as much appropriation as a white European doing it.

Not to mention that there is no African culture in the first place as Africa consists out of a lot of different cultures and even when you grew up in one part of Africa you would not have much clue or "right" to speak of another, possibly dead culture on the other side of the continent.

You keep assuming that since he was born in Italy, he has no African heritage. Despite several things in his FB alluding to it. That’s simply flat out wrong. Maybe his parents were immigrants. Or his grandparents. Or whatever. If you’re going to insist on having blinders on by doubling down in these assumptions, then I see no point in continuing.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Thats right, I doubt anyone would call foul if a black DM running the setting portrayed any of the setting inhabitants in a way that would be deemed objectionable if a white person did so, but I suspect you know this already.


Not play it, DM it, and the first time a village is portrayed as less than an advanced empire some people will call you racist for it, of that I have no doubt.


I consider the very notion of this utter non-problem of "appropriation" be hyperbole because it is never consistently applied. Who invented pants? Because if your ethnic group did not then take them off...very absurd.


This is not universally true as everyone is apparently free to profit from western or european culture, but how dare any westerner or european derived person return the favor.

If you’re arguing that cultural appropriation is a non problem, then you don’t know what it actually is, and have never opened a history book. In fact, the fact that you’d follow that up with “why do other cultures take European culture then?” proves you don’t know what cultural appropriation is, because it’s explicitly about appropriating minority cultures. I’d suggest you do some basic research on the topic because you’ve got a lot of factual errors in your assumptions.

 

[generic]

You keep assuming that since he was born in Italy, he has no African heritage. Despite several things in his FB alluding to it. That’s simply flat out wrong. Maybe his parents were immigrants. Or his grandparents. Or whatever. If you’re going to insist on having blinders on by doubling down in these assumptions, then I see no point in continuing.

I have loads of French and Scottish ancestry. Does that make me any more well equipped to discuss those cultures than someone who has studied them? My great grandparents on my mother's side were French immigrants from Italy, and my great-great grandfather on my father's side was from England. None of these things make me any better equipped to discuss France, Scotland, Sweden, Russia, or any other country which I might have ancestral ties to.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I have loads of French and Scottish ancestry. Does that make me any more well equipped to discuss those cultures than someone who has studied them? My great grandparents on my mother's side were French immigrants from Italy, and my great-great grandfather on my father's side was from England. None of these things make me any better equipped to discuss France, Scotland, Sweden, Russia, or any other country which I might have ancestral ties to.

Maybe not, but no one is going to accuse you of stealing from those cultures for personal benefit because you do have that heritage. Which is the whole point of what cultural appropriation is. Good lord...

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Not play it, DM it, and the first time a village is portrayed as less than an advanced empire some people will call you racist for it, of that I have no doubt.

Unless you're livestreaming, i really doubt the Culture Police are going to break down your door and call you racist in your home game...

 

[generic]

Maybe not, but no one is going to accuse you of stealing from those cultures for personal benefit because you do have that heritage. Which is the whole point of what cultural appropriation is. Good lord...

Alright, I can understand that. But, it seems to me, that using elements of any one culture is a pretty natural thing to do, and has been done for millennia. After all, many fantasy novels have been written by people whose cultural affiliation did not match the setting which they created. What's so wrong about blending cultures togther in works of fantasy? It's currently done in fantasy, in D&D, and in many other things, even in 'realistic' fantasy.

 

[Derren]

You keep assuming that since he was born in Italy, he has no African heritage. Despite several things in his FB alluding to it. That’s simply flat out wrong. Maybe his parents were immigrants. Or his grandparents. Or whatever. If you’re going to insist on having blinders on by doubling down in these assumptions, then I see no point in continuing.

Even if his parents came from Africa, it doesn't change that he has grown up in Europe and has been shaped by that.
That you even have to guess about his parents having been immigrants shows that your initial conclusion was only based on his skin color. Black skin -> allowed to write about Africa. Which is total nonsense as first you do not need the permission to write about it, second there would be no authority to grant such permission, third Africa not being a unified culture anyway, fourth skin color has nothing to do with culture and fifth cultures merge and "steal" stuff all the time which is a natural process.

A white person born and raised in, say, South Africa, would know more about the culture there as a black italo-german. Sure he can do research about Africa, but so can any other European, even white ones.

So why should he be allowed to write about "Africa" and a white person isn't?