Brown Girl in the Ring:

Magic for the Marginalized

BROWN GIRL IN THE RING: An Anthology of Song Games from the Caribbean

“Field recordings made by Alan Lomax in 1962 in Trinidad, Tobago, Dominica, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Nevis, and Carriacou. These are 62 group a cappella "game and pass play" songs, some sung by adults, but the majority by children, with spirited handclapping providing the only accompaniment to the voices. These territories were subject to much European colonization over the last few centuries, resulting in folk songs with clear influences from British (many of the numbers are performed in English) and French traditions, as well as African ones.” -Reviewed by Richie Unterberger

Boney M: “Brown Girl in the Ring” (UK, 1978)

The Wiggles: “Brown Girl in the Ring” (Australia, 1995)

Trinidad & Tobago Equestrian Association

•Colonization infiltrates every aspect of the indigenous group’s history, tradition, and culture in order to gain political and economic control of a nation.

• Colonization infiltrates every aspect of the indigenous group’s history, tradition, and culture in order to gain political and economic control of a nation.

•A colonized nation’s people become marginalized, existing only within the confines of the political structures created to disempower them.

• Colonization infiltrates every aspect of the indigenous group’s history, tradition, and culture in order to gain political and economic control of a nation.

• A colonized nation’s people become marginalized, existing only within the confines of the political structures created to disempower them.

•Marginalization excludes certain members of society from fully participating in activities that contribute to the social, political, and economic well-being of that society.

“Looking Out” by Gordon Parks

Mobile, AL 1956

•The issue of gender inequality is the fine thread that binds all nations, regardless of their history and relationship to colonization.

• The issue of gender inequality is the fine thread that binds all nations, regardless of their history and relationship to colonization.

•The feminist and suffrage movements arose out of the need to address issues facing women specifically—voting rights, reproductive rights, sexual violence and harassment, and equal pay, to name a few.

• The issue of gender inequality is the fine thread that binds all nations, regardless of their history and relationship to colonization.

• The feminist and suffrage movements arose out of the need to address issues facing women specifically—voting rights, reproductive rights, sexual violence and harassment, and equal pay, to name a few.

•In the same way that marginalization happens within every national, cultural, or ethnic group, social exclusion in feminism occurred when the issues of immigrant women and women of color were not readily addressed.

Painting by Angela Hayden

GENDER

RACE ETHNICITY SEXUALITY

ABILITY

= INTERSECTIONALITY

= MARGINALIZED

1.GLOBALLY, 66 MILLION GIRLS ARE OUT OF SCHOOL. (UNESCO)

2.80% OF ALL HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS ARE GIRLS. (UNFPA)

3.THERE ARE 33 MILLION FEWER GIRLS THAN BOYS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL.

(EDUCATION FIRST)

4.AN ESTIMATED 150 MILLION GIRLS ARE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

EACH YEAR. (UNIFEM)

5.THE #1 CAUSE OF DEATH FOR GIRLS 15 TO 19 IS CHILDBIRTH. (WORLD

HEALTH ORGANIZATION)

~ KALI ~

~ KALI ~ ~ OYA ~

• “Our children are growing up without their birthright: the myths, fairy tales, fantasies, and folklore that are their proper legacy.” (14)

• “One of the basic functions of myth and folk literature is to provide a landscape of allusion.” (15)

TOUCH MAGIC: Fantasy, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Children

by JANE YOLEN

What if the very least amongst us, those

who exist at the very bottom rung of

social hierarchy, were to rise from the

trenches of marginalization to fight evil

and become a world hero?

If speculative fiction is to be affirming, empowering, and

authentic for girls of color, such readers should be able to

identify with and see themselves represented by the protagonists

in the story.

This can act as the “ring” where the brown girl is celebrated and

can test the limits of her power within the safe confines of her

own culture.

• Speculative fiction that is AFFIRMING takes into account that girls

of color have inherited their own magical systems and mythologies.

• Speculative fiction that is AFFIRMING takes into account that girls

of color have inherited their own magical systems and mythologies.

• EMPOWERING speculative fiction stories featuring girls of color

allow the protagonist to take full reign of her journey.

• Speculative fiction that is AFFIRMING takes into account that girls

of color have inherited their own magical systems and mythologies.

• EMPOWERING speculative fiction stories featuring girls of color

allow the protagonist to take full reign of her journey.

• AUTHENTIC characters, cultural details, and setting should ring

true to the real life circumstances of marginalized girls of color.

Lady of the Ring: Affirming Character & Character Development

1.Physical characteristics should act as identity markers for girls of color.

2.Let the reader know that the hero is indeed a girl of color by delicately

weaving in physical features.

3.Avoid associating physical features to food or inanimate objects.

4.Use other cultural details to firmly ground the character in her landscape

—her name, interaction with family members, traditions, etc.

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor

Zahrah the Windseeker fan art by Nicole Tadgell

Tankborn by Karen Sandler

Livot:

•“…blond and tall and good-looking with a mouthful of too-white teeth…” (pg. 4)

Devak:

•“…dark hair straight and glossy…” (pg. 6)

•“…skin was the perfect color, a rich medium brown…” (pg. 7)

Kayla:

•“…[hair] wild and kinked…” (pg. 6)

•“…the pale mud color of her own skin…” (pg. 7)

•“…waist-length sandy-colored mess…” (pg. 7)

Ego Trip: Empowering the Brown Girl on the Hero’s Journey

Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012

Power can be exponentially amplified if the brown girl’s

heroism is mythic and macrocosmic. If she not only saves

herself but saves the world, her relative status in society is

elevated to new heights and thus she is indeed made hero,

and the brown girl reader is indeed empowered.

Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

The Brown Girl’s Magic Flight & Freedom to Live

Fantasy and science fiction novels for young readers that have

historically excluded children of color, and girls of color in

particular, can evolve into a genre that includes the truly

marginalized so that such readers can experience the freedom of

existing within the realms of science and magic as true heroes—

this proverbial ring where they can “show their motion.”

1. Create complex brown girl characters who are framed by all the cultural details that surround her. 2. Read folktales and myths from around the world that feature female characters to study how plot and structure can either uphold or subvert the Hero’s Journey. 3. Be aware and sensitive to the issues and challenges that marginalized girls of color face both within your immediate communities and around the globe.