The debate surrounding JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece, “The Lord of the Rings,” has reached a boiling point on a university campus, sparking controversy and division among students and fans alike. At the University of Nottingham in Britain, a course titled “Decolonising Tolkien et al,” led by historian and writer Dr. Onyeka Nubia, has ignited a firestorm by suggesting that Tolkien’s fantasy world is racially offensive.
The crux of the issue lies in the course’s assertion that Tolkien’s portrayal of good and evil in “The Lord of the Rings” reflects racial bias. According to the materials presented in the course, darker-skinned characters are depicted as morally corrupt, while lighter-skinned characters are celebrated. This interpretation posits that characters such as orcs and other antagonistic races are victims of a long tradition of racialized storytelling, with eastern peoples of Middle-earth being portrayed as inherently evil, and fairer-skinned western characters as virtuous.
Furthermore, the course argues that Tolkien’s depiction of fictional races in “The Lord of the Rings” perpetuates a legacy of “anti-African antipathy,” painting Africans as the natural enemies of the white man. This analysis is framed within the academic movement of decolonizing, which involves re-examining established canons through non-Western or non-white perspectives.
In addition to critiquing Tolkien’s work, the course also aims to “repopulate” British myth and legend, challenging the commonly held perception of a mono-ethnic past in medieval England. Dr. Nubia contends that Africans lived in medieval England but were largely erased from literature, perpetuating the concept of racial homogeneity in British history.
The course extends its critique to other works of classic British literature, including C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which is scrutinized for its portrayal of the Calormen as orientalist stereotypes. Critics argue that the depiction of the Calormen as cruel with long beards and orange-colored turbans echoes colonial caricatures.
The debate surrounding Tolkien’s work is not isolated to the realm of fantasy literature. Dr. Nubia also draws parallels with William Shakespeare’s plays, suggesting that Shakespeare’s omission of references to Africans living in England created the illusion of a mono-ethnic English past. This argument aligns with similar discussions that arose during the Anti-Racist Shakespeare program at London’s Globe Theatre in 2021.
While the course at the University of Nottingham has sparked heated discussions and divided opinions, with some academics and students pushing back against the reimagining of Tolkien’s work as anti-African, others see it as a necessary reevaluation of classic literature through a more inclusive lens. As the debate rages on, it remains to be seen how the intersection of race, literature, and academia will continue to shape our understanding of beloved literary classics.
