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I promised myself I wouldn& #39;t do this but:
A major reason so many historical romances are whitewashed is because the minute you bring POC into your regency world, you have to answer this question:
How did your rich white hero make his money?
A major reason so many historical romances are whitewashed is because the minute you bring POC into your regency world, you have to answer this question:
How did your rich white hero make his money?
Was it via the slave trade? Does his family own plantations? Is he an & #39;absentee& #39; slaveowner? Did he & #39;make his fortune& #39; in the East India Company? No? He just invests in trade?
If he & #39;invests in trade& #39; he is, at least, complicit in British Imperialism and colonial atrocities.
If he & #39;invests in trade& #39; he is, at least, complicit in British Imperialism and colonial atrocities.
Or maybe his family just *checks notes* secured their wealth via the Enclosure Act of 1773 which caused huge displacement of people and forced them to the cities.
If he& #39;s a Scottish landowner/lord.... well. Google the Highland Clearances.
If he& #39;s a Scottish landowner/lord.... well. Google the Highland Clearances.
Historical fiction is always fantasy of a kind. But the fantasy of a landed gentry who *haven& #39;t* made their wealth off of the degradation of the working class and POC across the Empire, who *aren& #39;t* complicit in violence, falls apart when you write POC into the narrative.
Like, whoops, we suddenly can& #39;t ignore the monstrous elephant in the room! Very hard to have lust and love and hope with that elephant over there!
And look, I love historical romance. Love it intensely. I& #39;m not saying & #39;BIN IT ALL& #39;.
And look, I love historical romance. Love it intensely. I& #39;m not saying & #39;BIN IT ALL& #39;.
But I am saying: historical fiction& #39;s whiteness exists not because of historically accuracy, but in staunch resistance of it, and contending with colonialism in historical fiction of any kind is never an easy task, but one I& #39;d love to see even more writers wrestle with.
And there are writers who do try and do this! In UK-set histrom Carla Kelly wrote a romance set in the Highland Clearances (Doing No Harm); Courtney Milan& #39;s new historicals contend with this. But this is applicable in many cases, across the genre.
