Y’all,
Nonfiction November flows into Decolonize December!
If you’ve read my “decolonize everything” verse, you know that this is a daily mood for me. Many folks invoke the “decolonize your bookshelf” or “decolonize your reading” tags to counter the dominance of so-called classics & majority white author lists/ curricula/ publishing we encounter. To this day, our curricula & readings remain colonial all over the globe.
Let us decolonize!
This invitation might mean lots of things but to me, it’s a way to decenter who or why or even how we read/ write. It’s not an exercise in diversifying or representing books in a tokenistic manner, but an entire reorientation. A few years ago, I cleared out my bookshelves & donated most of my books. Since then, I have read & purchased exclusively books by self-identified Black, indigenous & people of color. I invest primarily in books by debut authors who identify as folks of color. I rarely read hyped books on popular lists. While I am a “desi book aunty,” despite what folks think, I don’t exclusively read South Asian books.
“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.” — Assata Shakur
Here are a few ideas:
⚠️ Do a regular reading audit.
Ask yourself if you’re reading primarily books by certain genders, races, nationalities & so on. Identify the gaps & set reading intentions accordingly.
⚠️ Declutter your books.
Give away the classics/ hyped reads that reinforce whiteness culture. Donate the books you were assigned/ required to read rather than chose.
⚠️ Discover new to you reading options.
I look to the margins within identifications & seek out books by folks marginalized within those communities. It’s not simply a “diversification” exercise that leaves the reading approach or lessons intact. We can’t just “add & stir diversity” & call it decolonizing.
I ask myself honest questions: Whose writing am I overlooking/ devaluing? Am I reading books centering Palestine & faith minorities in places with fascist regimes? Am I reading books by multiracial/ multicultural folks? How am I reinforcing books rooted in gender binaries? How do I find books in translation from all over the globe?
I tend to get super specific in my self reflection/ reading wish making: Have I ever read a book by a two spirit Lakota poet? Have I found a new KidLit source by a Sri Lankan Tamil Muslim author who writes in verse? Have I ever heard of a Bengali queer food writer living in East Asia? Who are the Dalit creatives writing new KidLit decentering Brahminical patriarchy? Then, I research & reach out.
For instance, last year, I set the aim to rebuild my Native American bookshelf. This year, I’ve sought out new books on disability justice & “self-help.” I’ve added books by folks of color to my mental health/ healing/ self-help shelf. I realized that one vital way to decolonize myself is to ensure that any books I read about spirituality/ personal development/ affirmations, are rooted in a direct divestment from white supremacy. I’m actively interrogating who, why or how I read & write. The work is ongoing.
If you’re not ready to stop reading/ writing dominant culture books (centering white folks from the West), then, I recommend trying a decolonize your reading detox this December! For just one month, read only books & magazine pieces & op-eds & poems centering folks from the global majority whose perspectives are rarely represented in mainstream publishing. If you’re an educator, this is an opportunity to center BIPOC perspectives in all your instruction units/ lessons.
One more cautionary note: just because someone is BIPOC, does not necessarily mean their storytelling/ perspectives/ approach is decolonial. Confusing representation for liberation gets us all tangled up recycling dominant cultural dynamics.
The possibilities are so liberating & freeing!
“Decolonizing is unsettling.”
“Center the margins.”
— Gayatri Sethi, Unbelonging
Decolonize. Decenter dominance. Divest from diversity dabbling (drastically)!
See where I’m going with this? Decolonization is fundamentally linked to abolition; it’s not just about dismantling but recreating.
“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions.” - Ruth Wilson Gilmore
If you take me up on this decolonize December invitation, please let me & other folks in your community know what you learned/ discovered!
Follow the #decolonizedecember on social media for loads of reading inspirations & ideas!
Decolonize everything!
@desibookaunty
Very helpful tips - thanks!