Interrogating the Publishing Industry's White Gaze (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)

Beware of the white gaze. In this episode, Lisa D. Gray, founder of Our Voices Our Stories SF, joins me to stare down this omnipresent white gaze, which is prevalent in every space, in every industry, in every community of this white supremacist country. In particular, we place the publishing industry in the interrogation room and make our list of demands.

We discuss how we can hold those wielding power in the industry accountable when they say that publishing does not have a diversity, equity, and inclusion problem. We examine how Black and other women of color writers can be centered and seen and how we can unearth and mine underrepresented voices. We look at the policy, structural, institutional, and systemic barriers. We criticize the usual responses by the industry for why they don’t tend to publish books by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We call out the industry’s performative and optical responses when dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. We challenge the myths forwarded by the industry about Black and brown communities, and much more.

This is part 1 of a 2-part series where we aim to disrupt the publishing industry’s ‘old white boys’ club, and center, elevate, and amplify Black and other People of Color writers, especially women.

As we try to impact equity in publishing and writing, one critical thing we can all do is buy and read books written by Black and other people of color. Read this editorial by Lisa D. Gray for her critique of the publishing industry and her book recommendations.

The Nasiona Podcast amplifies the voices and experiences of the marginalized, undervalued, overlooked, silenced, and forgotten, as well as gives you a glimpse into Othered worlds. Hosted, edited, and produced by Julián Esteban Torres López. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @JE_Torres_Lopez

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Original music for The Nasiona Podcast was produced by the Grammy Award-winning team of Joe Sparkman and Marcus Allen, aka The Heavyweights.
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