{"id":565711,"date":"2021-06-16T14:07:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T18:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=565711"},"modified":"2021-06-16T14:07:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T18:07:49","slug":"transgender-realities-in-the-lord-of-the-rings-facing-accusations-of-racism-tolkien-society-to-focus-on-diversity-at-seminar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/transgender-realities-in-the-lord-of-the-rings-facing-accusations-of-racism-tolkien-society-to-focus-on-diversity-at-seminar\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Transgender Realities In The Lord Of The Rings\u2019: Facing Accusations of Racism, Tolkien Society To Focus on \u2018Diversity\u2019 At Seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftransgender-realities-in-the-lord-of-the-rings-facing-accusations-of-racism-tolkien-society-to-focus-on-diversity-at-seminar%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=565711&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-80417015-1-1.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>The Tolkien Society has announced that the theme of its 2021 Summer Seminar, held July 3 \u2013 4, will be \u201cTolkien and Diversity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Established in 1969, the Society<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tolkiensociety.org\/society\/\"> <span>describes<\/span><\/a><span> itself as an educational charity and literary organization founded to promote the work of \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 and Hobbit author, J.R.R. Tolkien. It claims hundreds of members in 22 countries and \u201creceived the blessing of Tolkien himself when he agreed to become the Society\u2019s president.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the Inkling bard might be less inclined to serve today were he aware of the organization\u2019s latest seminar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhile interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research,\u201d the Society says, \u201cit is now receiving more critical attention than ever before. Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien\u2019s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show \u2018The Lord of the Rings,\u2019 it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Among the speakers and topics to be discussed at the seminar are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Cordeliah Logsdon \u2013 Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Christopher Vaccaro \u2013 Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien\u2019s The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Sultana Raza \u2013 Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien\u2019s Worlds<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Nicholas Birns \u2013 The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Sara Brown \u2013 The Invisible Other: Tolkien\u2019s Dwarf-Women and the \u2018Feminine Lack\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Robin Reid \u2013 Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My!<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Danna Petersen-Deeprose \u2013 \u201cSomething Mighty Queer\u201d: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Accusing Tolkien of racism has been a frequent pastime of the Left, which claims his villainous Orc characters represent black and Asian people. The Society\u2019s reference to \u201cmore critical attention\u201d could indicate the seminar was planned as a response to such complaints.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A January<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dandd-must-grapple-with-the-racism-in-fantasy\/\"> <span>Wired<\/span><\/a><span> story, for instance, quotes Helen Young, author of \u201cRace and Popular Fantasy Literature,\u201d saying, \u201cIn [Tolkien\u2019s work] pretty much all of their own evil races \u2014 and even evil individuals, for the most part \u2014 are based on anti-black, anti-Semitic or Orientalist stereotypes.\u201d And two weeks ago, a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodinsider.com\/lord-of-the-rings-diversity\/\"> <span>Hollywood Insider<\/span><\/a><span> article claimed \u2018The Lord of the Rings\u2019 \u201c[places] people of color in very problematic and stereotypical villainous roles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cFor example,\u201d writes Jordan Qin, \u201cthe protagonists of both \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 and \u2018The Hobbit\u2019 were white men \u2026The biggest racial problem we see in \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 is with the Uruk-Hai, which is completely Tolkien\u2019s fault \u2026Tolkien\u2019s ethnocentrism geography of Middle-Earth describes a good and sophisticated West versus an evil and scheming East. Obviously, this creates a disparity between two groups of people, one who happen to be people of color and the other who happen to be white men.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a deep dive into Tolkien lore, fantasy author and painter Jeff LaSala defended the Oxford author, writing on fantasy publisher<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tor.com\/2021\/02\/23\/tolkiens-orcs-bolg-shagrat-and-the-maggot-folk-of-mordor\/\"> <span>Tor\u2019s<\/span><\/a><span> website, \u201cWe can accuse the good guys in The Lord of the Rings of racism against Orcs (if we want), but even the \u201cevil Men\u201d \u2014 those manipulated by Sauron \u2014 are not objectively demonic in nature.\u201d LaSala concludes , \u201c[Tolkien] saw Orcs not in terms of race or ethnicity but in the loathsome moral behavior of anyone, be they human or mythical monster-men.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tolkien Society has announced that the theme of its 2021 Summer Seminar, held July 3 \u2013 4, will be \u201cTolkien and Diversity.\u201dEstablished in 1969, the Society describes itself as &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280467,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-80417015-1-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Transgender Realities In The Lord Of The Rings\u2019: Facing Accusations of Racism, Tolkien Society To Focus on \u2018Diversity\u2019 At Seminar","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-80417015-1-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Transgender Realities In The Lord Of The Rings\u2019: Facing Accusations of Racism, Tolkien Society To Focus on \u2018Diversity\u2019 At Seminar","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}