Race & Culture in Conlangs
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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.