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Comparative analysis covers Dwarves, Orcs, and Elves, showing recurring stereotypes, author-to-author remixing, and historical shifts in characterization, sometimes aimed at correcting prior depictions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/racial-essentialism-in-high-fantasy-a-thesis/136427/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/racial-essentialism-in-high-fantasy-a-thesis/136427.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Berry Peter","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-17","2026-08-22",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does the thesis argue about the concept of “race” in high fantasy?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It argues that high fantasy uses “race” through an essentialist framework, treating racial identity as determinative of morality, psyche, and aptitude.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Which authors and historical ideas does the thesis connect to fantasy race construction?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It links fantasy racial logics to ideas associated with white supremacist race philosophers, including Carl Linnaeus, Arthur de Gobineau, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the thesis structure its main analysis across fantasy groups?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It examines the three most common racial groups in high fantasy—Dwarves, Orcs, and Elves—showing how patterns of racial imagination shift over time and across 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Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of  \nMASTER OF ARTS  \nApril 2022  \nCommittee:  \nJeremy Wallach, Advisor Esther Clinton  \nJeffrey Brown  \n© 2022  \nAlex Ogilvie Kostrzewa All Rights Reserved  \nABSTRACT  \nJeremy Wallach, Advisor  \nThis thesis seeks to demonstrate how “race” as a concept is utilized in the genre of high fantasy. It examines how race is constructed in fantasy texts utilizing an essentialist framework wherein race is determinative of individual morality, psyche, and aptitude. In imagining race in fantastical worlds, high fantasy texts reproduce the ideas of unabashedly white supremacist race philosophers such as Carl Linnaeus, Arthur de Gobineau, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, applying them to fantastical beings rather than real world groups. The same racial logics that informed Nazism are seen at play in The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and World of Warcraft.  \nThis thesis will examine how the essentialist framework is utilized through the three most common racial groups in high fantasy: Dwarves, Orcs, and Elves. In examining each of these groups in turn, broad patterns of how race is imagined become clear. Stereotypes about realworld groups are imported into fantastical worlds, where they are often combined and remixed over time by successive waves of authors. In comparing different fantasy texts, we see how the characterization of particular races changes with time to reflect the culture of the eras that produce them. In some cases, these re-imaginings are done directly in opposition to previous texts in attempts to correct offensive caricatures. However, even as imagined races themselves have changed with time, the overall concept of“race” in high fantasy remains mired in an  \nessentialist mindset.  \nFor Imagining Better Worlds  \nACKNOWLEDGMENTS  \nI wish to thank my professors Jeremy Wallach, Esther Clinton, and Jeffrey Brown for the guidance and education they have given me as a student. I wish to thank my undergraduate students for the time and attention they have given me as an instructor. I wish to thank Bowling Green State University for giving me the opportunity to attend graduate school as a nontraditional student. I would like to thank caffeine for giving me the strength to finish this thesis.  \nTABLE OF CONTENTS  \nPage  \nINTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1  \nDefining Fantasy “Race”.............................................................................................. 1  \nDefining Racial Essentialism ........................................................................................ 3  \nRace-Gendering ............................................................................................................ 6  \nIs Racial Essentialism “Racist”? ................................................................................... 6  \nSecondary Sources ........................................................................................................ 8  \nThe Role of Games ....................................................................................................... 8  \nThe Importance of Tolkien ........................................................................................... 11  \nWhat This Thesis is Not................................................................................................ 12  \nThe Re-Encoding Process ............................................................................................. 13  \nWhat This Thesis Is ...................................................................................................... 15  \nCHAPTER I: THE CASE OF DWARVES, RACIALIZED MASCULINITY ....................... 13  \nThe Archetypal Dwarf .................................................","cbCaigcBBiRSv9XO","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigcBBiRSv9XO","pdf",935217,140,"English","# Introduction\n## Defining Fantasy “Race”\n## Defining Racial Essentialism\n## Race-Gendering\n## Is Racial Essentialism “Racist”?\n## Secondary Sources\n## The Role of Games\n## The Importance of Tolkien\n## What This Thesis is Not\n## The Re-Encoding Process\n## What This Thesis Is\n# Chapter I: The Case of Dwarves, Racialized Masculinity\n# Chapter II: The Case of Orcs, Monsterizing the Other","[{\"question\":\"What does the thesis argue about the concept of “race” in high fantasy?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that high fantasy uses “race” through an essentialist framework, treating racial identity as determinative of morality, psyche, and aptitude.\"},{\"question\":\"Which authors and historical ideas does the thesis connect to fantasy race construction?\",\"answer\":\"It links fantasy racial logics to ideas associated with white supremacist race philosophers, including Carl Linnaeus, Arthur de Gobineau, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the thesis structure its main analysis across fantasy groups?\",\"answer\":\"It examines the three most common racial groups in high fantasy—Dwarves, Orcs, and Elves—showing how patterns of racial imagination shift over time and across texts.\"}]","RACIAL ESSENTIALISM IN HIGH FANTASY - A Thesis | PDF",353]