Posts in Commentary
Commentary: “Anarchy in High Heels” + Interview with Author Denise Larson
Commentary: “Anarchy in High Heels” + Interview with Author Denise Larson
Commentary, For ReadersChava Possumdenise larson, denise larson, anarchy in high heels, anarchy in high heels, feminism, white feminism, criticisms of white feminism, memoir, les nickelettes, all-women theater groups, feminist memoirs, books about performance, sex work, race, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, combahee river collective, keeanga-yamahtta taylor, mikki kendall, hood feminism, how we get free, why i am not a feminist, strongblackwoman, too heavy a yoke, anarchy in high heels reviewComment
Commentary: “An Indian Among Los Indigenas”
Commentary: “An Indian Among Los Indigenas”

Ursula Pike’s debut An Indian Among Los Indigenas follows 25-year-old Ursula during her two year stay in Bolivia as a volunteer with the Peace Corps and poses the question: What does it mean to have experienced the effects of colonialism firsthand, and yet to risk becoming a colonizing force in turn?

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Commentary, For ReadersChava PossumAn Indian Among Los Indigenas, Ursula Pike, Native Travel memoir, Memoirs written by Indigenous writers, Indigenous writers, Indigenous stories, mission trips, colonization, colonialism in Bolivia, white supremacy, white savior industrial complex, Teju ColeComment
Commentary: As Long as Grass Grows + full-metal Indigiqueer
Commentary: As Long as Grass Grows + full-metal Indigiqueer

The Decolonize This Book Club read Dina-Gilio Whitaker’s As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock paired with Joshua Whitehead’s debut poetry collection called full-metal Indigiqueer for our June and July meetings. Together, the two texts ask the question: How do we save the world when the apocalypse has already happened?

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Commentary, For ReadersChava PossumAs Long as Grass Grows, As Long As Grass Grows book, Dina-Gilio Whitaker, Indigenous authors, indigenous writers, As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock, environmental justice, ej, books about environmental justice, books about ej, Indigenized Environmental Justice, indigenized EJ, Standing Rock, #NoDAPL, Indigenous resistance, books about indigenous resistance, nonfiction, nonfiction written by indigenous authors, environmental activism, indigenous environmental activists, full-metal Indigiqueer, joshua whitehead, poems, poetry collection, poetry collections by Indigenous writers, indigenous poets, Oji-Cree writers, two-spirit writers, two-spirit poetry, joshua whitehead poetry, member of the Peguis First Nation, books written by members of Peguis First Nation, colonization, books about colonization, books about decolonizationComment
Commentary: Malcolm and Me
Commentary: Malcolm and Me

Malcolm and Me, by Robin Farmer, is a YA/middle-grade historical fiction set in 1973-1974 Philadelphia, following young Roberta Forest in her eighth-grade year at a Catholic high school.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava Possummalcolm and me, malcolm x, books about malcolm x, black and catholic, YA novels, YA novels by Black writers, YA novels by Black Women, Robin farmer, marcus garvey, black history month, black history week, books about black history, fictional books for kids about black history, civil rights, civil rights movementComment
Commentary: Care Work + Kimiko Does Cancer
Commentary: Care Work + Kimiko Does Cancer

For the March Decolonize This Book Club, we read a collection of essays, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Kimiko Does Cancer: A Graphic Memoir by Kimiko Tobimatsu.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava Possumcare work, care webs, kimiko does cancer, care work: dreaming disability justice, books about disability justice, disability, disability justice, graphic novels about disability, cancer survivors of color, queer breast cancer survivors, queer women of color breast cancer survivorsComment
Commentary: Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
Commentary: Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction

Love After the End is a collection of nine short speculative fiction stories written by Indigenous, queer, and Two-Spirit writers and storytellers. The question explored in each story is, as Joshua Whitehead tells us in his introduction, “What does it mean to be Two-Spirit during the apocalypse?”

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Commentary, For ReadersChava Possumlove after the end, two-spirit fiction, two-spirit writers, indigenous writers, indigenous stories, indigenous short stories, indigiqueer, indigiqueer writing, speculative fiction, indigenous speculative fiction, joshua whitehead, Nathan Adler, Adam Garnet Jones, jaye simpson, kai minosh pyle, gabriel castilloux calderon, darcie little badger, mari kurisato, nazbah tom, david a. robertsonComment
Commentary: The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood
Commentary: The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood

Masood’s novel follows two immigrant families as fundamentalism and nationalism take root seemingly everywhere, pushing families into dire situations, where right and wrong aren’t so simple. The struggle for one’s soul is central to this story. It’s also a love story, a tale about family dynamics, an exploration of Islam from multiple perspectives, and a commentary on American violence.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava PossumThe Bad Muslim Discount, Syed Masood, Muslim, Muslim writing, Fiction books about Muslims, New books about Islam, New books about immigration, books set in San FranciscoComment
Commentary: In Search of Appalachia
Commentary: In Search of Appalachia

I entered In Search of Appalachia with excitement at the prospect of reading about Appalachia by an Appalachian, rather than through the eyes of outsiders, as is so often the case in media, who typically present Appalachia as a backward and dirty place— one characterized by lacking, rather than a destination draped in rich culture. But I left In Search of Appalachia with a furrowed brow, disappointed in the missed opportunity of really grappling with our history as colonizers on the frontier.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava PossumAppalachia, Appalachian history, in search of appalachia, nancy brown diggs, criticisms of in search of appalachia, colonization, scotch-irish, scots-irish, east tennessee, east tennessee history, an indigenous peoples history of the united states, Cherokee history, Cherokee appropriation, scotch-irish history, scotch-irish values, scotch-irish colonizersComment
Commentary: "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South" by Eli N. Evans
Commentary: "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South" by Eli N. Evans

I opened Eli N. Evans’ book The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South with one question in mind: How does Jewishness intersect with whiteness in America (through the lens of the South)? And I deeply appreciate the complex answer I was given by reading the oft-overlooked history of Jews in the American South, the homeland of Christian evangelism, and battleground between the old and new.

Ultimately, the answer to my question that I discovered in Eli N. Evans’ book was this: White Jews in America perform a balancing act— benefiting from whiteness to protect their families and to achieve prosperity while also taking risks when the opportunity arises to support Black communities.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava Possumthe provencials, eli n evans, eli evans, jews in the south, history of jews in the south, are jews white?, american jews, white jews, intersection of jewishness and whiteness, can jews oppress people?, american history, jewish american history, mutt evans, antiracism, white supremacy, antisemitism, what is antisemitism?, are americans antisemitic?, is there antisemitism in america?
Commentary: “Hood Feminism” by Mikki Kendall + “Black Queer Hoe” by Britteny Black Rose Kapri
Commentary: “Hood Feminism” by Mikki Kendall + “Black Queer Hoe” by Britteny Black Rose Kapri

For the first reads of the Decolonize This Book Club’s second year, we chose Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall and a collection of poetry by Britteny Black Rose Kapri called Black Queer Hoe.

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For Readers, CommentaryChava PossumHood feminism, mikki kendall, black queer hoe, britteny black rose kapri, Commentary, review of hood feminism, review of black queer hoe, black writers, Black Women writers, Queer lit, poetry collection, poetry, black poetry, black queer poetryComment
Commentary: A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990
Commentary: A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990

If our goal is to decolonize, then we must start by learning how colonization works; its patterns could be its downfall.

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Commentary, For ReadersChava Possumsiberia, history of siberia, james forsyth, books about the history of siberia, books about russian colonization of siberia, Russian colonization, colonization, indigenous siberians, an indigenous history of siberia, similarities between america and russiaComment
Commentary: "Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South" by Mary Herring Wright
Commentary: "Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South" by Mary Herring Wright

Mary Herring Wright (1924-2018) was a Black and Deaf writer and teacher who participated in the Black ASL Project, which researched the linguistic features that make Black ASL recognizable as a distinct variety of American Sign Language. Having attended the North Carolina School for the Colored Deaf and Blind (NCSCDB), Mary was deeply familiar with ‘Raleigh Sign Language’— a distinct North Carolina variety of Black American Sign Language primarily used by Black Deaf signers who has attended segregated schools for the deaf, making her position in the project invaluable. Her memoir, Sounds Like Home, mainly focuses on her school days at NCSCDB.

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For Readers, CommentaryChava Possumdeaf, deaf in america, black and deaf, black history, black deaf history, sounds like home, sounds like home growing up black and deaf in the south, growing up black and deaf in the south, Black ASL, ASL, mary herring wrightComment
Commentary: "A Quiet Kind of Thunder" by Sara Barnard
Commentary: "A Quiet Kind of Thunder" by Sara Barnard

For the hearing world, talking is the end-all-be-all. But do we really need to talk to communicate? A Quiet Kind of Thunder is a young adult story about Steffi, who is selectively mute, who falls in love with Rhys, a Deaf student at her school. It’s a coming-of-age tale about communication and how we all communicate in different ways. Maybe there is more to life than talk!

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Commentary, For ReadersChava PossumA Quiet Kind of Thunder, Sara Barnard, Deafness, Deaf, Deaf culture, sign language, signing, BSL, British Sign Language, ASL, American Sign Language, selective mutism, books about deaf characters, books about deaf culture, books about BSL, books about British Sign language, fiction, deaf fiction, hearing world, hearing, is talking necessary?, books with mute characters, young adult books about deafness, young adult books with deaf charactersComment