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kojicic's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
Important topic and interesting facts in there. Overall it reads dry as though I'm proofreading the final copy of someone's dissertation.
the_history_shelf's review against another edition
4.0
You can read my review at BookBrowse Review here:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4299/african-europeans
https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4299/african-europeans
mitziatratum's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
knightofswords's review
3.0
While I thought the subject material was interesting, I think that Olivette Otélé made a mistake by trying to make this a broad, multi-century and multinational historical survey as opposed to a more narrow study, which I think would have allowed for a much stronger narrative thread. Too slight to be an academic text, and too scattered to be for general audiences - I would love to see the a version of this with the scope more tightly focused to the UK and France (which appears to be her area of academic specialty)
alexisdpatt's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
“African Europeans: An Untold History” by Olivette Otele ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“African Europeans” is doing too much and not enough at the same time. The blurb makes you think that this is a one by one list of African historical figures and their lives in Europe over the centuries. In this book, however, there are only about 5 such figures and one of those isn’t Dido Belle cause she’s completely forgotten about. Those that are included feel disjointed from the social narrative Otele is constructing.
As the book goes on, it’s switches from a historical biography into a social history which is fine and should be discussed to create the context for these people but there should have been an incision of a vast amount of African Europeans rather than just a handful or just a generalization. I finished it feeling like europe was still 99% white and that Africans just didn’t exist in Europe until the Windrush generation.
Excluding the bibliography and notes, this book is only 224 pages and should have been around 600 for a better interconnected web of historical figures within their context. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in the overall execution. I just wanted more.
coffeedragon's review against another edition
5.0
Wowow!! Why was this in my tbr pile for so long?! Or maybe that's a good thing? Another title off my netgalley backlog and now I need to go buy a physical copy
The books I usually read related to black history tend to be centered around black America so they cover slavery and span the time and discrimination faced in the US. I've also just watched content related to black culture in the Americas (Latin America specifically) and every detail I learn always makes me more curious
Somehow, I never considered what the black experience would be like in Europe and this book delves into this problem. This author is very clear and makes the book easy to understand. We follow a certain timeline and look at people in history who have, in some way, left their mark (and also what this means), up until we get to the contemporary world. We learn about the struggles of the "free" black person and how, in a way, the black community is less connected there (why this is, how people view themselves and their identities).
Honestly, there's so much gold in here and I'd love to learn more. This author is so thorough. Also, I know this is about being black and don't want to take away from this, but I feel like some of the things this author talks about can also be felt in other POC communities, specifically the sections that spoke about identity and not being able to find a home/roots/acceptance
Ps. I started reading this after I finished I Feed Her to the Beast, which was such a good segue way because that book shows us the discrimination faced in France and here we get more details (fiction and non-fiction joining forces to drill the info into my memory)
The books I usually read related to black history tend to be centered around black America so they cover slavery and span the time and discrimination faced in the US. I've also just watched content related to black culture in the Americas (Latin America specifically) and every detail I learn always makes me more curious
Somehow, I never considered what the black experience would be like in Europe and this book delves into this problem. This author is very clear and makes the book easy to understand. We follow a certain timeline and look at people in history who have, in some way, left their mark (and also what this means), up until we get to the contemporary world. We learn about the struggles of the "free" black person and how, in a way, the black community is less connected there (why this is, how people view themselves and their identities).
Honestly, there's so much gold in here and I'd love to learn more. This author is so thorough. Also, I know this is about being black and don't want to take away from this, but I feel like some of the things this author talks about can also be felt in other POC communities, specifically the sections that spoke about identity and not being able to find a home/roots/acceptance
Ps. I started reading this after I finished I Feed Her to the Beast, which was such a good segue way because that book shows us the discrimination faced in France and here we get more details (fiction and non-fiction joining forces to drill the info into my memory)
awhittz's review
4.0
African Europeans is a fascinating and very thorough book. It felt a little like being back at school because it’s dense with information and I had to concentrate hard and keep looking up words that I didn’t understand, but in a good way.