it must be conch reversy hours because i got some takes. first of all - i’ve already pointed out how ugly it is having the black zemeni people be characterized by “guns, pearls, and fantasy tobacco”, but gv went one step further by also having the fake dutch people (bc remember we have several white countries and One homogenous place black ppl come from) trying to take over that industry from across the ocean and undercut zemenis canonically while underpaying them for the crop they know how to farm and grow, all of which is very ugly and reminiscent of the transatlantic slave trade and how black people were literally used to farm cotton and tobacco. then to have zemenis be so necessary for the jurda parem plotline while actually not giving them any cultural definitions outside of “guns, pearls, and fantasy tobacco” to speak of. there is no development of novyi zem as a people, as a culture, as a country, outside of being where black ppl came from and guns, pearls, and fantasy tobacco. then to have the treaties w zemenis thrown away by the white mc of the series (nikolai). six of crows literally opens with the discussion over a zemeni ambassador being dead. two of the three zemenis in six of crows are D E A D right off the bat - the ambassador and aditi. the two zemeni characters we have - one is completely sideswiped and constantly put in danger bc of the white woman who thinks she knows more than her and consistently puts her and her knowledge down, and the other is completely reduced to his white father’s culture in name, dress, and mannerisms, and is completely removed from blackness other than his skin while his character is consistently butchered by fandom because of their white fave, who happens to be his boyfriend.
