#decolonize your bookshelf

[timelesslords]

I’ve been meaning to make a post like this for a while, so here are some fiction anti-colonial/anti-apartheid/anti-genocide books that I read for the cultural studies concentration of my literature degree, that I think are super readable/accessible and don’t see recommended often:

1. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

A novel about a boy who was a victim of a terrorist attack as a child and how he becomes radicalized by the same terrorist group that killed his friends as a young adult.

Additional/background reading:

2. The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam

a 24 hour snapshot of the last few weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war where the Sri Lankan goverment bombed a no fire zone, killing as many as 70,000 civilians, the vast majority of whom belonged to the Tamil ethnic minority. (this book is extremely graphic but very worth reading imo)

Background/additional reading:

3. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

A post-colonial novel spanning several decades centering on two WWII veterans living in Britain; one a white Englishman, one a Bangladeshi immigrant.

additional/background reading:

4. An Imperfect Blessing by Nadia Davis

A novel about the Indian community in South Africa, told primarily through the lens of a teenage girl and taking place during the dissolution of the apartheid state.

background/additional reading:

5. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

A modern retelling of Antigone set in post-9/11 Britain and Pakistan.

additional/background reading:

[padawan-historian]

To better upRoot our miseducation about settler-colonialism, antisemitism, islamophobia, apartheid, and the growing military industrial complex, here are a few urgent and timely reading recommendations from your friendly neighborhood historian (books with ** are my padawan picks)

Books on Muslim Identities & Solidarities:  

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: Twenty Years After 9/11 | Deepa Kumar **

The New Crusades: Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims | Khaled A. Beydoun 

Tolerance and Risk: How U.S. Liberalism Racializes Muslims | Mitra Rastegar **

The Muslims Are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror | Arun Kundnani **

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza | Mosab Abu Toha  **

The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine | Ben Ehrenreich 

Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom | Rebecca Gould **

Books on Jewish Identities & Religious Imperialism: 

Holocaust to Resistance, My Journey | Suzanne Berliner Weiss  **

A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism  

Ten Myths about Israel | Ilan Pappe **

Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto: Writing Our History 

Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: Redefinition and the Myth of the 'Collective Jew' | Antony Lerman **

Books on the Histories & Afterlives of Palestine: 

The Palestinians | Rosemary Sayigh 

The Balfour Declaration: Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine | Bernard Regan **

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 |  Rashid Khalidi **

The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine | Salim Tamari 

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine | Ilan Pappe **

Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel | Andrew Ross **

Gaza Under Hamas: From Islamic Democracy to Islamist Governance | Bjorn Brenner 

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories | Ilan Pappe

The Battle for Justice in Palestine | Ali Abunimah 

In Search of the River Jordan: A Story of Palestine, Israel and the Struggle for Water | James Fergusson **

Books on Queer Liberation & Apartheid: 

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique |  Sa'ed Atshan **

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir | Samra Habib **

Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times | Jasbir K. Puar 

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation | Eli Clare

Books for Young Readers & Growing Families on Palestine, Apartheid, and Racism: 

Young Palestinians Speak: Living Under Occupation **

You Are The Color **

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water **

A Little Piece of Ground 

Wishing Upon the Same Stars **

The Shepherd's Granddaughter **

They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom **

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier **

We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World **

Books for upRooting Political & Academic Imperialism 

Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics | Marc Lamont Hill + Mitchell Plitnick **

Tolerance Is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial | Saree Makdisi

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World | Antony Loewenstein **

We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight Over Israel | Eric Alterman **

Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories | Virginia Tilley

Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom | Keisha Blain

Beyond Walls and Cages: Prisons, Borders, and Global Crisis | Matt Mitchelson

Books for Decolonized Scholarship & Community Building: 

The Wretched of the Earth | Franz Fanon **

Necropolitics | Achille Mbembe **

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement | Angela Davis **

Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women's Anti-Colonial Struggle within the Israeli Prison System | Nahla Abdo **

Europe's Fault Lines: Racism and the Rise of the Right | Elizabeth Fekete 

The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World | Kehinde Andrews **

The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft Repression | Tariq D. Khan 

Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution | Walter Rodney

You can explore more decolonized book recs + history reads over on Neighborhood Historian or access deeper history lessons (and support these public resources + works) through my Patreon.

[thatwritererinoriordan]

I just joined Mastodon, and if you did too and you're wondering who to follow, I have a rec: Paperback and Frybread, a Native-American owned bookstore.

They have new and used books.

They have Libro.FM for audiobooks.

They have t-shirts, stickers, and journals.

They have a Banned Books section.

[medieshanachie]

Librarian here. Yes. All the yes. Books are books no matter the form.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

I know this is a bit outside your wheelhouse, but I still think it's an important article to share. It could be quite valuable for anyone who's interested in learning more about indigenous perspectives.

https://indiginews.com/vancouver-island/decolonizing-your-grown-up-bookshelf

[thistle-nightshade]

Initiatives we love

Trans Rights Readathon

MARCH 22-29, 2024 “The Trans Rights Readathon is an annual call to action to readers and book lovers in support of Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31st. We are calling on the reader community to read and uplift books written by and/or featuring trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and 2Spirit authors and characters.”

Sign Up Here

Kraken Collective

"The Kraken Collective is an alliance of indie authors who have pooled resources to publish high-quality fiction while retaining complete creative control over our stories. We aim to provide a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy stories, all starring LGBTQIAP+ characters. From alien hunting lesbians to complex political fantasy, The Kraken Collective publishes queer SFF that will blow your mind away and leave you craving more. Although it begins as a simple cooperative between authors, we aim to grow into an unique publishing model capable of supporting queer indie voices everywhere in SFF. We are committed to building a publishing space that is inclusive, positive, and brings fascinating stories to readers. Cephalopods are fascinating and deeply intelligent creatures: masters of camouflage, brilliant escape artists, and underwater innovators–from the millimeters-long cuties to the kraken-like giants, they’ve impressed us with their constant ingenuity and creativity. In short, they are awesome. Just like us. We hope to create a kraken-sized cloud of ink through our stories and that, like an octopus hiding in its ink, you too can find refuge and solace in our worlds.”

See the Website

DYB Publishing

Decolonize Your Bookshelf is a publishing initiative run by Dominique(also the owner of Paperbacks & Frybread) and Michael LaBorn. They are dedicated to celebrating and uplifting voices of Black, Indigenous and other marginalized communities. They aim to increase representation and accountability in publishing by highlighting books by underrepresented authors and helping authors write better representation in their stories. The first book they published is Alfajiri by Michael Laborn. This is a great book for anyone who wants to dip their toes into fantasy. It has a lot of great fantasy themes while being short and easy to digest. It was so popular that Laborn wrote and extended edition of the story.

Alfajiri on DYB Publishing

Aro and Ace Database

“Enter a few keywords in the search bar of the database to find an aromantic or asexual character! These can be orientations (demisexual, grayromantic, etc.), story genres (fantasy, contemporary), or many more—and you can use more than one.”

View the Database

Queer Liberation Library

“Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.” Apply for a membership to browse books on Libby.

Memberships

Everywhere is Queer

“This is a public resource (and ever-growing searchable map!) created for the LGBTQIA2S+ and ally community to find welcoming, queer-owned spaces to shop, connect, eat, learn, and grow all over the world… even in your own neighborhood!”

See the Map

[magiclilybean]

The next several up:

5., 7., & 9. The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky - the Broken Earth trilogy. Was recommended to me so I can support black authors. Didn't enjoy the first book (means nothing - there's no accounting for why I like or dislike anything, my tastes are weird) but I wanted to find out what happened. The main protagonist is part of a complicated relationship with her mentor and I LOVE them. Did not see where it was headed, had an ending that was both sad and uplifting? Weird.

6. Iron Widow - Asian sci fi by an Asian American author. I love it so much. The protagonist is a young woman with bound "lotus" feet, and for at least half the book, she chooses anger and/or violence at every turn. I love her. She complains about her foot pain constantly, and she SHOULD. Obsessed with her.

8. The Woman They Could Not Silence - a non-fiction about a 19th century American woman whose husband had her institutionalized. Girl would not back down. You won't believe how far her story goes. I read it in a weekend. Couldn't put it down.

10. Salvage the Bones - by a black American author, about a rural bayou family during Hurricane Katrina. Amazing. Literary. There aren't enough superlatives. I went on Amazon and gave it 5 stars. I bought the second and third books too, and I'm likely to buy everything she's written. The way she captures the baby brother of the family is my favorite part.

Whimsically decided on New Year's Day to read 52 books in 2024. Wasn't sure if that was too ambitious, but now it's 15 days into the year, and I'm 4 books in. I like having a reading list so much, I'm thinking about doing this every year.

So far I read:

1. The Sun Down Inn - Pretty meh, although it has a female protagonist and I like that.

2. The Giver - I found this one kind of boring. Not going any further in this series, I don't think.

3. The Book Thief - This one was the most "literary," if that makes sense - abstract and poetic and unique. Different from any other Holocaust book I've read. It's a crime that I haven't read it before.

4. The Only Good Indians - Indigenous horror. Some of the animal related content is difficult to read, but it has a very satisfying ending. You won't have any idea how it's going to end until the last two pages. It was an unpredictable read and I also learned a lot. Found this on Paperbacks and Frybread, cannot recommend her book store enough.

Next up: The 5th Season and Iron Widow.

[radicalrascal]

Decolonize your bookshelf ✨

New sticker in my Etsy shop 💕 Check it out!

[padawan-historian]

Let Gaza free you (and your mind) ✨️

[thisblackwitch]

My book “Dreamer” is out! Available in Print, E-book and Audiobook

My book is out, yay! Please go buy it! Dreamer is a YA/New Adult dark fantasy horror novella that has a Black-led, BIPoC cast of characters, including queer. Available in print, ebook and audiobook. You can hear and read a sample of Dreamer here. 

Cover is made by @artofedge , the book is narrated by Soraya Butler, edited by @sirenofthetimes​

I’m a Black, demi/ace independent author so yay, moar diverse works!

“Vera has quite unusual dreams. Whatever she dreams, affects her in real life. All is fine until one day, she sees something she thought she could handle – instead, she’s plagued with a reoccurring nightmare, haunted and tracked by The Hunter. Now she worries she may never wake up again.”

Buy a Copy Now!

[quelquesoit]

I DID IT

[verybisexualcoffeebean]

“Love him,” said Jacques, with vehemence, “love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? And how long, at the best, can it last? since you are both men and still have everywhere to go? Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, and most of that, hélas! in the dark. And if you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty—they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing, you will be despising your flesh and his. But you can make your time together anything but dirty; you can give each other something which will make both of you better—forever—if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.” 

-James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room, 1956. Happy Pride Month, and a reminder that the lgbt+ rights movement would not be where it is today without POC, especially Black people. 🏳️‍🌈✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿🏳️‍🌈

[britneyshakespeare]

what does it look like i’m doing? i’m decolonizing my bookshelf!

[therequisitewatson]

A book recommendation: If you enjoy Louise Erdrich's work (especially Tracks or The Night Watchman), you should check out The Cruelty Men by Emer Martin. They're very tonally and stylistically similar. And if you just enjoy long winding stories about decolonization and desperately clinging to your ancestors' stories you should read all of these books.

[bookish-brews]

Decolonize your bookshelf with me at Bookish Brews