Race & Culture in Conlangs
Conference Presentation, Seattle Convention Center, Seattle, Washington
In this talk, we explored how ideologies of race and culture are developed within the features and lexicons of constructed languages for creative or artistic purposes; we also explored the creative choice to use natural languages in place of a conlang. We focused on three fictional settings and the linguistic choices made by their respective creators: Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Herbert’s Arrakisand-related universe, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In all cases, there is an underlying assumption of whiteness-as-default, as well as exoticization, racialization, and othering of races, especially those meant to be villainous.