A review by jayisreading
How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir by Shayla Lawson

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Spanning across multiple countries and continents, Lawson’s memoir is more than that; it also is a manifesto of sorts, with a demand that we each deeply reflect on our complex identity and positionality in the world. Lawson, a Black American who is nonbinary, femme, disabled, and queer, draws heavily from their own traveling experiences to reflect on their identity on all fronts. One thing I particularly appreciated was how Lawson grappled with being from the United States and what that means in other countries. This is further complicated when they bring Blackness into the picture, and I found their reflections quite profound to the point that I was deeply reflecting on my own identity and how race and nationality shaped my experiences when I also lived abroad.

While Lawson’s memoir takes the reader through Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and the Caribbean, many chapters also focus on their experiences in different regions of the United States, which makes sense, considering how vastly different each region can be. While the themes and locations are incredibly diverse, I was really impressed that Lawson found a thread through all of them, especially in the way they stepped back to think about the world as a whole.

Written with deep gratitude, humility, and a sense of wonder, Lawson’s reflections are so welcomed in the way they challenge us to think about our place in the world and the existing potential to make it a better place.
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