Tolkien and Diversity
This is not a joke. I swear by all that is holy that I am not making this up. I lack the imagination.
Theme
While interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research, it is now receiving more critical attention than ever before.
Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien’s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show The Lord of the Rings, it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien. How do adaptations of Tolkien’s works (from film and art to music) open a discourse on diversity within Tolkien’s works and his place within modern society?
Beyond his secondary-world, diversity further encompasses Tolkien’s readership and how his texts exist within the primary world. Who is reading Tolkien? How is he understood around the globe? How may these new readings enrich current perspectives on Tolkien?
Representation is now more important than ever and Tolkien’s efforts to represent (or ignore) particular characteristics requires further examination.
Additionally, how a character’s identity shapes and influences its place within Tolkien’s secondary-world still requires greater attention.
This seminar aims to explore the many possible applications of “diversity” within Tolkien’s works, his adaptations, and his readership.
Speakers and papers
The list of speakers for the two-day seminar is as follows:
- Cordeliah Logsdon – Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings
- Clare Moore – The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien
- V. Elizabeth King – “The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire”: Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien’s Middle-earth
- Christopher Vaccaro – Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
- Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien’s Worlds
- Nicholas Birns – The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism
- Kristine Larsen – The Problematic Perimeters of Elrond Half-elven and Ronald English-Catholic
- Cami Agan – Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
- Sara Brown – The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack’
- Sonali Chunodkar – Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic’s Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm
- Robin Reid – Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My!
- Joel Merriner – Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings
- Eric Reinders – Questions of Caste in The Lord of the Rings and its Multiple Chinese Translations
- Dawn Walls-Thumma – Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community
- Danna Petersen-Deeprose – “Something Mighty Queer”: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien
- Martha Celis-Mendoza – Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien’s scholarship and fandom
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The Tolkien Society is a registered charity in England and Wales. Founded 1969.
My Comment:
Please do not contact these people, harass these people, challenge any of them to a duel, or ignite a thermonuclear device in their vicinity. Wrath is a deadly sin, no matter how abundantly deserved or long overdue.
The investigation of such matters rightly belongs to the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, currently called the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Any punishments, penalties, or lingering yet sadistic and brutally inhuman tortures are matters for the secular authorities.
Despite what may seem, this is not blasphemy.
Blasphemy is any malicious or wanton reproach of God, or malicious accusation made against God or the Church with the purpose of dishonoring the divine majesty and alienating mankind from the love and reverence of God. Blasphemy must be published, that is, uttered in the presence of another party to be an offense. Mere use of profanity is not considered blasphemy.
In France, before the Revolution, it was a blasphemy also to speak against the holy virgin and the saints, to deny one’s faith, to speak with impiety of holy things, and to swear by things sacred. Spain had a similar law against uttering injuries against the Virgin Mary and the saints. Those were sane and wholesome times, not to be seen again.
Until and unless Professor Tolkien is canonized, despite the universal and ferocious sentiment of all hale and sound Men of the West, technically it is not blasphemy to utter injuries and libels against him, not even by grotesque and orkish freaks in service to the Dark Lord.
And the princes and stewards of the decayed remnant of lands not yet conquered by the Shadow have not the valor and wisdom of day of old, and will not lift up the sword against the malefactors. Numenor is fallen, the heroes of old are lost beneath the waves, and we will not see their like again.
We scattered few who remain no longer have freedom of speech our fathers knew, but the trolls and unclean spirits in service to Dol Guldur enjoy the privilege, and were-worm lolls on his ill-gotten heaps of dwarven gold.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
