Celebrations of Diversity Within the Xena Fan Fiction World

Website
Name:	Celebrations of Diversity Within the Xena Fan Fiction World
Owner/Maintainer:	L. Crystal Michallet-Romero
Dates:	01 Novemeber 2002 - May 2003 (last awards update)
Type:	index site
Fandom:	Xena: Warrior Princess
URL:	http://www.charani.org/XenaDiversityFanFic.html (Wayback)
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Celebrations of Diversity Within the Xena Fan Fiction World is a list of fiction that celebrates diversity in Xena: Warrior Princess alt or uber fanfiction.

The basic requirements for this list are simple. The stories must be considered Xena Fan Fiction, either Uber/Original or X/G: Alt. They must also be posted on the web and therefore easily accessible. [...]

When I refer to Ethnic Diversity, this would mean that if the story centers around Xena/Gabrielle, the sub-characters need to be what would be considered a minority within Greece for their time period. These could be anything from Egyptians, Japanese, Chinese, African, Arabs. You get the idea. Ethnic diversity for Uber/Original would be anything from Native American, African Americans, Chicano, Hispanic, etc. As another example, if the Uber story were taking place in Australia, then an Aborigine character/culture would be considered ethnic diversity. Religious diversity in X/G stories would be considered any religion, which would have been considered minority religions within Greece for their time period. For Uber/Original, it would be any religion which is not the dominating

Judo/Christian religion of the Western world. This could be Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Pagan, etc.

The site also awards The Charani Award of Excellence In Xena: Fan Fiction (Alt or Uber). The stories are judged according to content, concept, topic and the incorporation of either Ethnic characters or Religious Diversity. Awarded stories are marked in the index and there is commentary on the awards page as to why the story was given this award.

Gallery

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  author index

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  Awards page

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  Crystal's Response to Allegations of a "Hidden Agenda"

"Hidden Agenda"

Shortly after Crystal posted her list, she was accused of having a "hidden agenda". Apparantly there was some backlash and her decision to create an index and what amounts to a rec site for stories featuring ethnic and religious diversity was not without controversy. Crystal wrote a response and linked it from the main page of the site.

I received several e-mails today from various members of this group regarding a controversy which is taking place on their message posts, and I hope I can answer some of the questions that are being aired.

Regarding the accusation of a "hidden agenda," I wonder if Lunacy, when she began to review her stories, Mary D, when she began issuing her Xippy Awards, or even the group who hands out The Swollen Bud Awards were ever accused of having hidden agendas?

As to the matter of my "hidden agenda" behind compiling this list, of course I have an agenda. However it's far from being hidden. My agenda is to provide the names of authors and titles of Xena Fan Fiction, either X:WP/alt or Uber/original, that embrace diversity by incorporating either ethnic or religiously different characters within the story. This list will enable other people who are looking for diversity to quickly locate the stories and authors whom they wish to support. [...]

When I first aired this question a few months ago to a web group and received harsh backlash simply for bringing up the topic, I almost believed that the Xena Fan Fiction world had no place for women of color. Thankfully, after going to the larger Merpup group and airing the same question, I received overwhelming support as well as the titles of the fan fiction I had been searching for. Had it not been for their encouragement, I would have left fan fiction completely. From the numerous e-mails I've received from other people I realize there are other people who were on the brink of giving up on Xena Fan Fiction as a place to find depictions of ethnic diversity. They have expressed to me that my list now gives them some hope that there may actually be a place for us within fandom. I choose to remain optimistic in this thought and hope we will not be proven wrong.