Unsubtle satire on the wages of whiteness, in pace with the ’30s in its portrayal of women
The audience in mind swings back and forth between middle grade and middle aged. It’s lean in activism that is specifically not anticapitalist. There is a fair amount that is useful but the moments of cringe are overpowering. A selection:
Building on decades of behind the scenes work in Black-led organisations for social justice, Garza outlines the mission of identifying common goals to forge enduring and broadened relationships, and organising strategically to transform the dynamics of power—with a vision to secure the ability to shape every policy decision … Read more
Not half a sneeze of subversion in this recreated patriarchy. Body shaming and threats of genital mutilation serve as comedy.
Highlights:
“Those Who Fight For Us Without Us Are Against Us: Afrofeminist Activism in France” by Cyn Awori Othieno and Annette Davis on behalf of Mwasi Collectif In France self-labelled antiracist organisations along with the status quo cry ‘reverse racism’ not just when trying … Read more
The history of fragile white men stroking each other’s egos with pseudoscience, insisting too much. The book is drily informative with interspersals of bemusingly casual commentary, ironic speech, and belaboured listings of abuse-as-scholarship. The last chapter jumps sixty years, promotes exceptionalism, and asks naive questions for the … Read more
A casual and loosely informative read with moments of appealing to the colonialist state. The humorous asides are painful.
Fluidly written essays about cultivating dissent and critical thinking amidst intermingled identities and the complications of colonialism
Zu viele Zufälle und Klischees. Ich hätte das nicht auf Englisch gelesen, aber es ist das erste Buch, das ich auf Deutsch fertiggelesen habe 🙂
My favourite of the trilogy. I laughed and smiled often. Eden Robinson does an amazing job at warmly folding you into the lives of these characters.
Harrowing, one of a kind, full of humour. I snickered (like Ernie) at the exchanges between Jared and Sarah.
An incisive work of Black feminism in Britain covering reproductive justice, trans inclusionary feminism, supporting sex workers, prison abolition, and—excitingly—art as witness. I would have been bowled over if the chapter on food concentrated on food justice with inspiration from Vandana Shiva. Olufemi envisages a living, breathing practice … Read more
First off, Shiva cannot seem to write without clobbering repetition. The heart of her ideas and activism, however, are galvanising and foundational. She has transformed the way I think about food justice and agroecology. She questions the sanctity of science and development and [reveals] that these are not … Read more
** spoiler alert **
She talks about colonialist principles being applied to Europe in WWII (Césaire), conditional absorption into whiteness, and revisionist histories—in riddling analogies and immoderate irony. She writes more straightforwardly about internalised racism and white men in Europe claiming to stand up for women only when they can pin patriarchal … Read more
Uneven, from distasteful sympathies (the anti-abortion Lark Street and the entitled white male murderer redemption story Light Spitter) to scintillating acuity
I didn’t expect so much patronising flattery and unscientific claptrap in the opening speech. Very little of this collection is agelessly thundering in exposing the crimes of imperialism, the prison walls of America, and the artifice of white liberal allyship.
This is a dissertation work on collective memory and commemorative activism. Although there are stretches of empirical research to wade through, it is fortunately also explicitly polemical. France is not unique as a country that refuses to acknowledge racial oppression (unless it’s in America or unless it’s … Read more
A comprehensive dissection of anti-Black racism across history, in Canada, and across all borders. If repetitious it’s as a direct reflection of unrelenting anti-Black demonisation, surveillance, containment, and violence in all our societal structures. Policing Black Lives is intersectional, potently researched, and crystal clear.
