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albatrossonhalfpointe's review
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Definitely read this book. Some interesting observations, some that are straight-up hilarious, and some that will probably feel uncomfortable. Those are the ones to sit with for a bit.
More at https://kingshearte.blogspot.com/2023/07/disorientation-being-black-in-world-ian.html
meag98's review
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
very well written and thought provoking, and especially poignant in the “aftermath” of the pandemic. i would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for more work by Black, Canadian authors!
layla_platt's review
4.0
On audio. Wonderfully poignant and moving essays that everyone and anyone could learn something from.
tinamayreads's review
5.0
Wow!! Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams is an amazing book! My 200th book of 2021 and it was five stars! Right away I loved the conversational tone to the writing and the personal stories. It’s an important read on the topic of race and specifically Ian’s experiences as a Black Canadian man. It was especially interesting to read about his differing experiences in Canada versus America and Vancouver versus Toronto. By the end of the book I felt very emotional and almost cried. This is talented writing and I’m so excited to read his novel Reproduction now!
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Thank you to Europa Editions via NetGalley for my gifted review copy!
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Thank you to Europa Editions via NetGalley for my gifted review copy!
elainelee's review
5.0
Circa 2020, the summer of so many people's long-overdue racial awakenings, curated book lists were all the rage. Titles like So You Want to Talk About Race, White Fragility, How to be an Antiracist, etc. shot to the forefront of public discourse, and of course many a Canva-produced high-contrast repostable infographic. These books tend to have catchy titles that explain exactly what to expect and act as a guide in part to soothe the bruised consciences of white (or non-Black) people by making them feel "educated" and literate in racism in order to echo the correct rhetoric in various majority-white liberal spaces that they occupy.
I've read a few of these diversity/equity books and I do think they tend to be good, accessible introductions to race and guided reframings of racism as structural in addition to interpersonal. It's all very Race 101. By that I mean it's obviously necessary but only one part of the story, filtered through a series of easy-to-understand frameworks for the curious but not yet informed.
I remember listening to the audiobook of So You Want to Talk About Race that summer while walking around my neighbourhood, iced coffee in hand and walking courteous circles around those I passed on the sidewalk. Ijeoma Oluo is an excellent writer, but at one point I must have realized that I was listening to it because I wanted to feel some kind of moral uprightness about "educating myself," to log it on my Goodreads and think, yeah, I've done my little anti-racism task for the day. I didn't just want to talk about race, me and my friends used to sit around in the tenth grade lounge or at a sleepover after semiformal and...talk about race. I didn't need to have someone explain what intersectionality is to me again, or what a microaggression is via an info box of sans serif text in the middle of a page using a contrived analogy.
All this brings me to how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book of essays. Prof. Williams (as I know the author) doesn't try to provide political instruction or give any kind of neat resolution to what he brings up. There is no hiding the messy and complicated business of trying to understand one's racial experiences. Even the title - "Being Black in the World" - is vague enough to ask an implicit question to the reader: do you care about Black experience that doesn't centre around narratives of earth-shattering trauma or moral instruction? The fact that he is also a novelist and poet lends itself well to this book. There are innovative, distinctly literary choices of structure and language. Some moments of storytelling don't necessarily directly serve an argument, but rather serve thematic development, or invite interpretation.
The central tenet of the book centres around what Prof. Williams terms "disorientation," or the "effect of racial encounters on racialized people, the whiplash of race that occurs while minding one's business . . . usually at a moment when your internal experience is not framed in racial terms, and reorders the pattern of your interactions around race." He quotes Christina Sharpe, who describes the effect of anti-Black racism as the "weather or climate of our interactions," variable yet always present, sometimes demanding attention and other times an imperceptible backdrop. I think the way he explained this will resonate with many people. The rest of the book explores this disorientation on every aspect of life.
Part 1 lays the groundwork for the book, making the usual disclaimers (not being a representative of the whole community, for example), defining disorientation, and identifying his position and view of whiteness as a system of domination. Part 2 develops specific aspects of his lived experiences in Trinidad, America, and Canada, and how they differ, often with storytelling, vivid scenes of dialogue, and even humour. Part 3 hones in on the perception and experience of the Black body. I was particularly impressed by the way that the complex collisions of identity in Canadian contexts were gently teased apart and meditated upon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his description of his interactions with Margaret Atwood.
It's really well structured, with generous subdivisions even within essays, and the prose is lucid and sharp, sometimes conversational, other times solemn. It was easy to read 90% of it in one sitting, helped by the knowledge of Prof. Williams's voice, so sometimes it felt like he was speaking to me. Highly recommend!!
I've read a few of these diversity/equity books and I do think they tend to be good, accessible introductions to race and guided reframings of racism as structural in addition to interpersonal. It's all very Race 101. By that I mean it's obviously necessary but only one part of the story, filtered through a series of easy-to-understand frameworks for the curious but not yet informed.
I remember listening to the audiobook of So You Want to Talk About Race that summer while walking around my neighbourhood, iced coffee in hand and walking courteous circles around those I passed on the sidewalk. Ijeoma Oluo is an excellent writer, but at one point I must have realized that I was listening to it because I wanted to feel some kind of moral uprightness about "educating myself," to log it on my Goodreads and think, yeah, I've done my little anti-racism task for the day. I didn't just want to talk about race, me and my friends used to sit around in the tenth grade lounge or at a sleepover after semiformal and...talk about race. I didn't need to have someone explain what intersectionality is to me again, or what a microaggression is via an info box of sans serif text in the middle of a page using a contrived analogy.
All this brings me to how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book of essays. Prof. Williams (as I know the author) doesn't try to provide political instruction or give any kind of neat resolution to what he brings up. There is no hiding the messy and complicated business of trying to understand one's racial experiences. Even the title - "Being Black in the World" - is vague enough to ask an implicit question to the reader: do you care about Black experience that doesn't centre around narratives of earth-shattering trauma or moral instruction? The fact that he is also a novelist and poet lends itself well to this book. There are innovative, distinctly literary choices of structure and language. Some moments of storytelling don't necessarily directly serve an argument, but rather serve thematic development, or invite interpretation.
The central tenet of the book centres around what Prof. Williams terms "disorientation," or the "effect of racial encounters on racialized people, the whiplash of race that occurs while minding one's business . . . usually at a moment when your internal experience is not framed in racial terms, and reorders the pattern of your interactions around race." He quotes Christina Sharpe, who describes the effect of anti-Black racism as the "weather or climate of our interactions," variable yet always present, sometimes demanding attention and other times an imperceptible backdrop. I think the way he explained this will resonate with many people. The rest of the book explores this disorientation on every aspect of life.
Part 1 lays the groundwork for the book, making the usual disclaimers (not being a representative of the whole community, for example), defining disorientation, and identifying his position and view of whiteness as a system of domination. Part 2 develops specific aspects of his lived experiences in Trinidad, America, and Canada, and how they differ, often with storytelling, vivid scenes of dialogue, and even humour. Part 3 hones in on the perception and experience of the Black body. I was particularly impressed by the way that the complex collisions of identity in Canadian contexts were gently teased apart and meditated upon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his description of his interactions with Margaret Atwood.
It's really well structured, with generous subdivisions even within essays, and the prose is lucid and sharp, sometimes conversational, other times solemn. It was easy to read 90% of it in one sitting, helped by the knowledge of Prof. Williams's voice, so sometimes it felt like he was speaking to me. Highly recommend!!