Editor quits after article sparks outrage
Voiced opinion on cultural appropriation
The editor of the Writers’ Union of Canada’s magazine has resigned after complaints over an article he wrote in which he said he doesn’t believe in cultural appropriation.
Hal Niedzviecki, editor of Write — a publication for the union’s members — published an opinion piece in the spring 2017 issue titled “Writer’s Prompt.” In the article, in an issue dedicated to indigenous writing, Niedzviecki wrote: “In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities.
“I’d go so far as to say there should even be an award for doing so — the Appropriation Prize for best book by an author who writes about people who aren’t even remotely like her or him.”
He went on to argue that Canadian literature remains “exhaustingly white and middle class” because writers are discouraged from writing about people and places they don’t know.
A sociological term, cultural appropriation is used to describe the adoption of elements or practices of one cultural group by members of another.
On Wednesday, the Writer’s Union of Canada issued an apology for the piece, announcing Niedzviecki’s resignation and pledging to review the magazine’s policies.
“The Writer’s Prompt piece offended and hurt readers, contributors to the magazine and members of the editorial board,” the statement said. “We apologize unequivocally. We are in the process of contacting all contributors individually.
“The intention behind the magazine is to offer space for honest and challenging discussion and to be sincerely encouraging to all voices. The Union recognizes that intention is not enough, and that we failed in execution in this instance.
“We offer the magazine itself as a space to examine the pain this article has caused, and to take this conversation forward with honesty and respect,” the statement concluded.
Neither Niedzviecki nor John Degen, the executive
I’D GO SO FAR AS TO SAY THERE SHOULD EVEN BE AN AWARD FOR DOING SO — THE APPROPRIATION PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK BY AN AUTHOR WHO WRITES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO AREN’T EVEN REMOTELY LIKE HER OR HIM. — HAL NIEDZVIECKI, EDITOR OF WRITE MAGAZINE CANADIAN LITERATURE REMAINS ‘EXHAUSTINGLY WHITE’
director of the Writers’ Union of Canada, responded to repeated requests for comment Wednesday.
Social media backlash against the piece began Tuesday from Write contributors and members of the Writer’s Union. Alicia Elliott, an indigenous Tuscarora author of a piece published in the same issue, tweeted out photos of Niedzviecki’s oped and said she was happy to receive her copy of the magazine “until I saw this.”
“It felt like an intimate betrayal,” she said. Niedzviecki had edited her own piece about cultural appropriation, which Elliott said made it “especially hurtful.”
She said she believes the problem isn’t that white, middle-class writers are afraid to write about other cultures, but rather that they appropriate other cultures too frequently.
“Their voices are lifted up, while the people who are from those cultures are pushed down and kept outside the industry.”
Joshua Whitehead, a PhD student at the University of Calgary who also contributed to the magazine, tweeted, “this is shocking — wish I knew this was going in before I submitted.”
Nikki Reimer, a member of Write magazine’s editorial board, announced her resignation in a blog post published to her website on Wednesday.
She said she “would have strongly objected to this piece had I seen it prior to publication.”
“I can’t, should not, and will not speak for any indigenous writer, but what I do attempt to do, in my life and in my work, is to listen to others who do not move through the world with my level of privilege,” she wrote in her post.
“Canada has a long history of settler-colonialism and of cultural and physical appropriation … I vehemently disagree with the notion that cultural appropriation is not real — it exists and it causes real harm.”
Niedzviecki is the founder of the magazine Broken Pencil. He is also the author of several fiction and nonfiction books, including The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors.