For some, it is enough to replicate problematic characterisation of the past with a simple romantic gloss – a key example of this would be Meyer’s Twilight series, in which the werewolves remain troublesome and animalistic natives, with the white invaders recast as suave and attractive vampires. For others, the female werewolf comes to represent an opportunity for reclaiming power; she is the ‘underdog’ who can fight against patriarchal/colonial power, a super-powered rebel who can overturn the hegemony (male werewolves are also cast in this light in some contemporary fiction and film).
The vegetarian ones / are no safer than the others.
The crux of cultural appropriation is about power and the ability to represent one's own community in a space where one's own community is misrepresented and is actively oppressed as a result of that misrepresentation.
In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Ciro Faienza presents poetry from the June and July issues of Strange Horizons.
