It turns out that it is Banned Word Week here at Fangs and Clause. I read a lot of mysteries. Some of them are amazing, but others of them are just this side of schlocktastic. But I’m beginning to understand why Paternal Clause never read fiction.
If I were more like Paternal Clause, I would have been bothered by the depiction of the hurricane bearing down on the location of my most recent mystery novel. And I was bothered, but I let it slide. But when the main character seeks help from an academic, who in various points of the book, is purported to be an anthropologist, have a degree in African American studies as well as a degree in African cultural studies, I get a little upset.
And it’s not even the dim knowledge of how academia works (that field is way too wide for one poor professor). Even that I can give a pass. It’s the idea that African cultural studies is one thing.
Africa is made up of 54 countries, its people speak a thousand languages from 15 language groups, and according to Wikipedia (I am not proud), there are also over a thousand ethnic groups on the continent. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the African diaspora that is even more relevant to the plot line.
I blame the author, but I also blame the copyeditor. The author is trying to make sure the killer is going to be caught in a reasonable matter and to juggle various points of plot, place, and character; but it’s the copyeditor who must question everything and save the freaking author from herself.
But I also blame our educational system. When I was in high school our world history class was a western civilization class. When I asked my teacher why, she said there wasn’t enough time to teach real world history, and most of the ancestry of her students were European. Which is funny, because I always thought my high school was half-white and half-black.
So, copyeditors and writers alike, beware of monolithic thinking. Africa is not a country, Southerners are not all racist (some of them are black and even *gasp* Asian), Westerners are not all cowboys. I could go on, but I’ve got paying work to do.
Fangs and Clause 
Amen, Sister! I’m loving the passion of Banned Word Week. I wish more writers, more folks, understood how monolithic thinking pokes holes into any point they’re trying to make. I know I slip sometimes. That’s why I proofread myself so much that my eyes get bleary. I want to make sure I’m saying what I think I’m saying. Thanks for the reminder.
We all slip up sometimes. But monolithic thinking is the enemy of good writing and thinking!
I’ve been reading better books recently and have less to complain about. But I have continued this conversation—in a way—on my new real-person blog. Can’t tell you the name here, but I just followed your blog with my real-person persona.
Eat this blog comment when you finish reading. 🙂