Symbolic annihilation is used to highlight the erasure of peoples in popular communication, including in children’s books, of course.
I only heard of this term this week, thanks to an article at Jezebel, but I’ve been aware of the concept for a while. Once you start noticing how few non-white characters exist in modern picturebooks, as well as the gender discrepancy (it’s about 70/30) you can’t stop noticing. And now I know what it’s called.
Its correlate is Symbolic Glorification, for example sporting heroes in Western culture, or ethnic minorities but only on festive days, or of women on TV, so long as they’re under 30 and fit the Beauty Ideal.
CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)
On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:
