The Good Immigrant is a collection of 21 essays by people of colour (POC) that recount their immigrant/ diaspora experiences and/ or concerns in Britain. This collection was published by Unbound and edited by Nikesh Shukla; it is 234 pages long if I exclude the list of acknowledgements and supporters, of which there are many. It was produced thanks to the support of the public. My sister lent me her copy of this book after I told her I wanted to buy Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, since Eddo-Lodge contributed an essay to this collection. Along with my personal reflections, I will briefly describe some recurring themes in the collection.
This book's strongest feature (for me) is that it addresses and gives voice to a whole spectrum of ethnic narratives and experiences. It obviously cannot cater for every immigrant experience in Britain but it definitely provides a solid variety with which POC can identify with and/or learn from. It covers several continents and takes varied approaches to the subject. I personally felt that it provided me with valuable windows into other worlds and cultural experiences, such as that of the Chinese minority and the Black community, while simultaneously showing me mirrors where I read narratives very close to my own. This combination creates a sense of solidarity with people from other cultural backgrounds, since we may experience discrimination differently depending on our race, and we can thus identify wider social issues that need to be resolved.
While each essayist brought his/ her own perspective to the fore, a recurrent theme was the complexity and richness of each person's lineage (and consequently the experiences that come with it). Highlighting these complexities not only humanises us but also underlines to what extent our lives have been simplified for the "White man", whether it be on administrative forms or in the media. I sensed both a personal and analytical approach in the writings, which raise it above pure anecdotal sentimentality. The collection discusses the effects of living in the diaspora in the context of politics, culture, the education system, the media and even sex.
Another recurrent theme is that of representation, especially in the media (including literature), to the extent that POC children (and maybe even adults) have internalised that stories are about White people, with White people representing the "universal" by default. Several essayists discuss the role of media and pop culture on upbringing and self-perception. This issue is being increasingly voiced on social media but I do not know to what extent it is being addressed in the real world- though I believe there is an active attempt for greater diversity in literature in terms of characters and authors. Nevertheless, it shows the bias we face from early on and the bias we expose our children to.
To be clear, this book is far from being an emotional diatribe of 21 bothered Britons. It is an assessment and critique of multicultural Britain that raises important issues that need to be addressed in order to create an empowering, healthy and representative environment for the various communities that make up Britain today. The Good Immigrant explores the burden of Empire and living in the wake of colonisation while still being expected to conform to white standards like our ancestors while our White counterparts do not live with the same pressure to rectify the wrongs of the past. The ideas in this book are well articulated and the writing is quite beautiful; it is funny, shocking, sad and eye-opening. This is an important read for anyone in the diaspora- or whoever is considered an immigrant.
***
Another little shoutout and thank you to my little sister for loaning this book to me. It's a great piece of work and I'm so close to ordering my own copy!
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? If you haven't read it yet, do these issues interest you?
No comments:
Post a Comment