About Beyond Victoriana

Mission Statement

Beyond Victoriana is a blog about multicultural steampunk and retro-futurism—that is, steampunk outside of a Western-dominant, Eurocentric framework. All of the steampunkery here focuses on non-Western cultures, underrepresented minorities (Asian / Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, First Nation / indigenous / NDN,  Hispanic / Latin@, black / African) and other marginalized groups in Western histories, and the cultural intersection between the West and the non-West. The steampunk here deals with the “little s” definition and leans towards inclusive as opposed to exclusive. Topics featured on this blog will include but is not limited to: history, literature, art & fashion, science & technology. The time range will focus on both the Victorian and Edwardian eras, but also is not limited to them (as with the case of post-apocalyptic steam and steampunk/fantasy genre). This blog is also open to highlighting examples of steampunk from the current community and items that can be considered under the steampunk umbrella.

The intention of this blog is to start conversations with steampunk enthusiasts, to expand cultural mindsets, to question the stereotypical representations of “steampunk.” This blog is my own personal space, but is available for contributors to comment, interact and communicate about how steampunk can be equally treated as a global historical genre and not limit itself to one geographical area or Eurocentric mindset.

Beyond Victoriana does subscribe to a specific steampunk philosophy. Steampunk, because it’s an aesthetic & a subgenre inspired by a time period fraught with a complex social and political history, is never apolitical. The nineteenth century was a time of intellectual achievement, innovation, and geopolitical expansion. At the same time, that greatness came at the expense of slavery, oppression, social inequality, and racism. These problems did not go away once the Victorian era ended, and in fact, the social scars are still visible upon our society today. So when speaking about steampunk from non-Eurocentric settings, difficult issues about race, class, marginalized histories, and cultural appropriation will be addressed.

Steampunk, because it’s a modern style and has a social community, is also reflective of society and people today. Current social ills cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to steampunk, because we bring ourselves into steampunk. And we are not people built from nothing, but from what we are born with and born into.

In light of this, Beyond Victoriana’s content does not seek to promote “color blindness”, racist narratives, and stereotypes (of all sorts-racial, gender, class, religious, sexual orientation, age or ability). This blog will not encourage flat definitions of “multiculturalism” that result in blind cultural appropriation or tokenism. This blog will not encourage the use of terminology that has racist underpinnings. What this blog will seek out and foster, however, is a greater communication about the sociopolitical issues that pervade steampunk, and through thought and example, how steampunk’s definition can be expanded so that it, like all forms of worthwhile creativity, can be reflective of the entire scope of the human experience.

Site History

Started in October 2009, Beyond Victoriana was first hosted on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal as a personal steampunk project. It was inspired (or, perhaps, prompted by) the seeming lack of non-Eurocentric representation in the genre and the Racefail science fiction/fantasy discussions which began in January 2009.

Beyond Victoriana has been hosted here since March 2010.

The blog banner was created by Kim Pho.

About Ay-leen

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 04 March 2010

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Diana M. Pho, also known as Ay-leen the Peacemaker. For questions about this blog, please contact  attic [dot] hermit [at] gmail [dot] com.

This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owner’s and contributors’. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

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