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A review by elerireads
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala
4.0
Very readable. I really liked the use of personal experience as a kind of starting point, then broadening to talk about general trends, historical context and the importance of international dimensions for Britain in particular in light of its imperial past (and present).
The racism at the hands of teachers was especially anger-inducing and gives pause for thought at the moment, when we are trusting teachers' judgements to award pupils qualifications. I appreciated the clearly articulated discussion of the interplay between race and class, and how much of his experience was in common with the white working class, and how much was not. I also think the comparison with race dynamics and black culture in the US was very worthwhile and brought together into properly researched, clearly expressed points some of the vague, ill-informed thoughts that had been half-forming in my head during the BLM protests here in the UK this summer.
Whilst I appreciate that this book was based in large part on Akala's own experiences, the black and working class life depicted was most definitely a masculine one, and there was little to no acknowledgment of that, let alone any attempt to explore how women's experiences might differ. Given how meticulously he unpicks the dangers of generalising in other ways (America vs UK, Carribbean vs West African, xenophobia vs racism, etc.), I found this particularly disappointing, especially when at the end he bemoans the way whiteness is seen as the default, having just treated maleness in the same way.
The racism at the hands of teachers was especially anger-inducing and gives pause for thought at the moment, when we are trusting teachers' judgements to award pupils qualifications. I appreciated the clearly articulated discussion of the interplay between race and class, and how much of his experience was in common with the white working class, and how much was not. I also think the comparison with race dynamics and black culture in the US was very worthwhile and brought together into properly researched, clearly expressed points some of the vague, ill-informed thoughts that had been half-forming in my head during the BLM protests here in the UK this summer.
Whilst I appreciate that this book was based in large part on Akala's own experiences, the black and working class life depicted was most definitely a masculine one, and there was little to no acknowledgment of that, let alone any attempt to explore how women's experiences might differ. Given how meticulously he unpicks the dangers of generalising in other ways (America vs UK, Carribbean vs West African, xenophobia vs racism, etc.), I found this particularly disappointing, especially when at the end he bemoans the way whiteness is seen as the default, having just treated maleness in the same way.