Our April 2021 book club selection is here!
Dear Good Ancestors,
We have just spent an incredible first month in the Good Ancestor Book Club where we journeyed together in reading and discussing Robert Jones, Jr.'s debut novel, The Prophets.
It was an amazing month that culminated in a live author event this past Thursday with Robert himself in live conversation. Our book club members had the pleasure and privilege of asking Robert questions about the book, his journey, and his writing process and I cannot tell you how honoured I feel to have taken part in that event. It really was the perfect ending to what has been an incredible first month of book-clubbing together. I am so excited to share our second book selection with you!
In April we will be reading Don't Touch My Hair (also called Twisted in the US), by Irish-Nigerian author, academic, and broadcaster, Emma Dabiri.
Watch the video above to find out why I've chosen this book.
For those of you not familiar with Emma, she is a visual sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths, and a teaching fellow in the Africa department at SOAS (The School of Oriental & African Studies) in London. She has published in a number of academic journals, as well as the national press, and is one of the BBC's Expert Voices.
Don't Touch My Hair / Twisted was Emma's debut book. Her second book What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition is due out this week on April 1st.
About Don’t Touch My Hair / Twisted:
Straightened. Stigmatised. 'Tamed'. Celebrated. Erased. Managed. Appropriated. Forever misunderstood. Black hair is never 'just hair'. This book is about why black hair matters.
Emma Dabiri takes us from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, Black Power and on to today's Natural Hair Movement, the Cultural Appropriation Wars and beyond.
We look at everything from hair capitalists like Madam C.J. Walker in the early 1900s to the rise of Shea Moisture today, from women's solidarity and friendship to 'black people time', forgotten African scholars and the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian's braids.
The scope of black hairstyling ranges from pop culture to cosmology, from prehistoric times to the (afro)futuristic.
Uncovering sophisticated indigenous mathematical systems in black hairstyles, alongside styles that served as secret intelligence networks leading enslaved Africans to freedom, Don't Touch My Hair proves that far from being only hair , black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.
You may be wondering why I have chosen Emma's first book instead of her newest one.
I've made the deliberate and intentional choice not to select books for the book club whose primary audience is people with white privilege because I want the book club to be a space that does not center white people doing the work. Instead, this is a space that centers and celebrates BIPOC books that center BIPOC experiences. For that reason, I have chosen Emma's first book over her second book, however I highly want to encourage folks to buy and read both. Emma is a fantastic writer, thinker, and social historian, and I believe What White People Can Do Next is going to be a valuable addition to the canon of antiracist and liberatory literature.
In the meantime, I cannot wait for us to dive into Don't Touch My Hair / Twisted!
Grab your copies of Emma's book from our Good Ancestor Bookshops:
If you are not currently a member of the Good Ancestor Book Club, we would love to have you join us!
You can find out more about the book club at www.goodancestorbookclub.com. To join the book club simply join or upgrade your membership to the Good Ancestor Book Club member tier, where both monthly and annual subscriptions are available.
We begin our book discussions next week on Monday 5th April, and our author event with Emma will be on April 29th.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We can't wait to begin the next month of book-clubbing together :)