Anthology explores Black experience in Asia
The cover of "Black in Asia: A Spill Stories Anthology" / courtesy of Spill Stories and designed by Ellie Suh
By Jon Dunbar
The new book “Black in Asia” shares the experiences of 23 Black writers living in at least 10 countries across Asia, highlighting the complexity of Black life experiences amid prejudiced expectations through personal autobiographical short stories.
“I can't speak for all of the other writers and certainly not for the publishers, but I see the book as adding to the written record of Black experiences globally and continuing the vital work of normalizing Black experiences outside of those created by stereotypes or oppression-oppressed narratives,” said Melissa Watkins, one of the six contributors writing from Korea.
Melissa Watkins / Courtesy of Spill Stories
The book's inception traces back to a writing workshop held online in March by Spill Stories, a storytelling platform for women of color around the world. Boipelo Seswane, a South African writer and teacher based in Seoul, facilitated the event.
After the murder of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide, Spill Stories started sharing stories from the workshop online. As they got quite a lot of attention, more people wanted to share their own stories and it grew from there into the book. It was also decided to broaden the voices by welcoming male contributors. The final book's contributors list is approximately two-thirds women, one-third men.
“The book is a response to the Black Lives Matter movement,” Seswane said. “There is no official affiliation, but we hope to create more nuanced conversations about race that are not US-centric or Euro-centric.”
The contributors outline their life experiences in Asian countries, revealing many common experiences with prejudice and unreal expectations, as well as difficulty finding haircare products.
Watkins' piece describes the awkwardness of people overestimating her propensity for basketball, twerking and rapping.
“People often ignore my other talents because they are sure I can dance (I can't) and sing (I do this better than I dance but I'm no pro). I'm an academic, a writer, a developing voice ― but people ignore all of that and assume I'm here to entertain,” she said. “I don't have a problem with the popularity of Black cultural things globally ― we are pretty awesome, after all ― but what I don't like is that people often forget that Black culture belongs to Black people. So I've had ridiculous things, like a Korean person who's never left Korea telling me that something I do isn't Black."
Her piece highlights how Black culture is commodified, filtered and distorted through consumerist pop culture and the media.
“Even when people are open to Black people and Black culture, they often have a small, stereotypically based, consumeristic view of what and who Black people are,” she said.
“There's a lot more to being Black than songs, dances, sports, or whatever superficial thing it is that people think Blackness is. We are whole cultures and whole people, and I guess I just wanted to express some of the frustration with people's insistence of seeing Blackness as a consumable, or as a costume, or as something that you put on and take off according to what pop culture dictates in kind of a self-aware, sarcastic way.”
Kami Rose's short poem emphasizes a similar idea in only 24 words, ranging from objectifying terms like “circus” and “thing,” to vilifying words like “thief” and “ugly.”
Renee Simone comes from a bicultural background, having been raised in the U.S. by immigrants from Liberia, but she outlines how these prejudices minimize her unique life experiences and how she breaks through them.
Renee Simone / Courtesy of Studio Tamdil
“No matter where I have gone in the world, I always felt there was an already preconceived notion of how I would speak, where I was from, my highest education degree and if I was trustworthy,” she said. “Once I uttered a few words comforting to the people listening ― i.e. America, university ― the invisible barrier would fall.”
The book challenges prejudices by starting conversations, rather than taking an accusatory stance or aggravating conflicts. The authors are given a platform to share their inner thoughts that they want to be seen for, and many want to set aside issues of racial inequality and injustice and just be themselves.
“The stories in the book are really broad and while almost all of them discuss stereotypes and anti-Black racism in some way, none of them are centered on that,” Watkins explained, “they are centered on the fullness of life as a Black person living globally, in Asia, outside of the norms created by stereotypical portrayals of Blackness in Western media ― and to be honest, in global media as well.”
“It was most important to show the dimensions,” Seswane said. “The importance of seeing the weight Black people are expected or thought to carry through life is just as important as seeing the light parts and acknowledging that both of those can exist and can even do so simultaneously.”
Dyondra Wilson / Courtesy of Spill Stories
The contribution from Dyondra Wilson tells how she moved to Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, “after feeling the weight of the world as a Black woman in America.” It focuses mainly on her experience being hospitalized for six days and bonding with the other patients.
“The weight of being a Black woman here in Korea is much lighter,” she told The Korea Times. “I will say that even though the weight has shifted and is indeed lighter, I still feel it. I get stares and looks or even judged for being who I am no matter where I go. I've experienced people invading my personal space, trying to rub my skin or feel my hair and that still makes me uncomfortable. In the hospital, I still felt like an outsider sometimes. Some women tried to touch my dreadlocks and asked me personal questions.”
She added, “I'm grateful for the community that I have here or I would have felt really lonely.”
Erica K. Butler / Courtesy of Spill Stories
Erica Butler's piece also highlights the good community feelings and lessening of weight she experienced living in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, which she considers her “Korean hometown.”
“I make an effort to find the purpose in everything, big or small, and enjoy discovering different things for which to be grateful. That is where my joy lies,” she told The Korea Times.
“While I am aware that there is racism and ignorance, albeit definitely different than racism and ignorance in the States…, it doesn't stay with me. And if I see it, I think that I address it in the moment and therefore, it has already passed, if that makes sense. Thus, the parts on which I do dwell, the parts that do stay with me are those peaceful, joyful experiences that I wrote about in my piece. Those experiences make up the bulk of my reality.”
Although she misses Gimpo now that she lives in Seoul, she said, “it wasn't Gimpo that was the ingredient that made me so happy there. I realized that the common denominator wherever I live is me.”
“Black in Asia” is available from
, as well as
and
. Southside Parlor in Itaewon will host a
this Sunday, featuring four of the authors. Tickets cost 35,000 won and include a copy of the book plus free-flow mimosas. Visit fb.com/spillstoriesig or spillstories.club for more information.