February 20, 2023

Episode 9

‘Black Fingon’ with Megan B. Abrahamson & Maria K. Alberto

View on Zencastr

Hosts & Guests

Maria K. Alberto

Maria K. Alberto

(she/her) Working on her PhD at the University of Utah and studies fanworks, queerness in fantasy, and D&D. She probably needs more coffee right now.

Megan B. Abrahamson

Megan B. Abrahamson

(she/her) A medievalist and fangirl who teaches English and Honors at Central New Mexico Community College and is the Editor of Mythprint for the Mythopoeic Society.

Alicia

Alicia

(she/they) A queer Tolkien scholar and Zelda nerd interested in adaptation, audience reception, and biography.

Grace

Grace

(she/her) An acquirer of books, a queer-rights activist, serves as as the Subscriptions Steward of the Mythopoeic Society, and is a Professional Nerd (okay, technically it’s an unpaid internship).

Leah

Leah

(she/her) Just another weird Tolkien geek living in the Grey Havens (also known as Seattle WA) with two rabbits and far too few books.

Resources

Media

Megan Abrahamson, Maria K. Alberto, “‘Long Dark Hair in Great Plaits Braided with Gold’: Black Fingon and Racebending in Transformative Tolkien Fanworks.” Mythcon.

Tolkien Fan Art Survey

Articles

Dallas John Baker. “Writing Back to Tolkien: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in High Fantasy.” Recovering History through Fact and Fiction: Forgotten Lives.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien.

Groups

Fan Studies Network North America

Mythoopoeic Society

About This Episode

To celebrate Black History Month, we welcome Tolkien scholars Megan B. Abrahamson and Maria K. Alberto for a discussion on their in-progress research into Black fan art depictions of the elf Fingon. In between Fëanorian apologia, they share what inspired Tumblr artists to break with the ‘default’ depiction of Tolkien’s elves as light-skinned.

Note: We experienced some intermittent audio issues while recording this episode. Please excuse the audio quality in places.
Featured art: Perplexingly

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