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A review by brice_mo
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
5.0
Ordinary Notes was one of my favorite books of 2023, so I was curious to revisit some of Christina Sharpe's earlier work.
I was blown away.
There is so much empty talk in higher education about privileging alternative knowledges, and it often seems like a subtle attempt to silo off certain types of scholarship. Sharpe seems to recognize this, and in both of her books that I've read, it feels like she has her finger on the pulse—and her hand on the jugular—of academe.
It's difficult to describe the perfect alchemy that Sharpe pulls off, but the closest articulation I can think of is that she turns scholarship into poetry.
I've seen many people attempt the opposite, and it often feels milquetoast and inoffensive because it has no power. By forcefully elevating an academic work into art, Sharpe both commands attention and demands that readers be moved. These are the rare texts that don't merely interrogate systemic issues—they offer a lucid and sustainable vision of alternatives.
I was blown away.
There is so much empty talk in higher education about privileging alternative knowledges, and it often seems like a subtle attempt to silo off certain types of scholarship. Sharpe seems to recognize this, and in both of her books that I've read, it feels like she has her finger on the pulse—and her hand on the jugular—of academe.
It's difficult to describe the perfect alchemy that Sharpe pulls off, but the closest articulation I can think of is that she turns scholarship into poetry.
I've seen many people attempt the opposite, and it often feels milquetoast and inoffensive because it has no power. By forcefully elevating an academic work into art, Sharpe both commands attention and demands that readers be moved. These are the rare texts that don't merely interrogate systemic issues—they offer a lucid and sustainable vision of alternatives.