Diaspora-ish
Cover reveal & pre-orders
Beloved readers and co-learners,
A few updates on my forthcoming book:
Publication was originally scheduled for early fall, but has been postponed to early next year. A cover reveal is coming soon!
About DIASPORA-ISH:
Notes on Identities, Unbelonging, & Solidarities
Words By: Gayatri Sethi | Cover & Book Design By: Annika Sarin
A collective learning resource that offers inquiries about diasporic identity and belonging aimed at practicing global solidarity.
What does it mean to be in diaspora? How do our identities and aspirations for belonging unfold during times of collective upheaval?
In her lifelong search for solidarity, educator Gayatri Sethi draws upon her own complex diasporic journey to explore widely accepted ideas about identity and belonging. Spanning three continents and multiple phases of the author’s life, Diaspora-ishoffers inquiries into many facets of identity—names, relationships, ethnicities, citizenships—and poignantly demonstrates how these are weaponized to exclude and other. Addressing prevalent misconceptions about immigration, Sethi pushes for a deeper understanding of migration and diaspora that centers decoloniality and anti-imperialism. Diaspora-ish is an urgent call to unlearn oppressions in order to work bravely toward collective liberation.
In an extension of her genre-bending nonfiction debut Unbelonging, Sethi juxtaposes personal observations with academic notes and inquiries to guide readers through paradigm shifts in learning. Diaspora-ish presents an anti-imperial, anti-racist, collective learning resource that centers historically marginalized and excluded global realities.
About the publishers:
We are a women-owned small press amplifying diasporic perspectives in children's literature.
We are proud to publish books that highlight the experiences of children growing up across geographies and between cultures.
Excerpt:
Personal notes:
Stopping genocide and famine (in Gaza, Sudan and wherever we reside), is our most urgent work. With ongoing genocides and global travail, directly linked to u.s. imperialism, it is inevitable that many things like books and publications feel trivial. I’ve come to acceptance of simultaneous truths: No essay, poem or book can jam the gears of genocide. Also, without political education about ongoing colonialism, imperialism, and revolution, we will collectively be adrift. I created the book with the hope that I’d be able to provide needed learning interventions during increasing book bans and suppressions preventing truth teaching within classrooms and schools. I earnestly wish this forthcoming book to be a resource for educators and learners committed to unlearning propaganda and relearning for liberation.
Requests:
Please consider adding Diaspora-ish to your syllabi, reading lists or book club selections.
If you’d like to invite me to speak or offer a teach-in on themes from the book, please reach out. Most of my work is pro-bono, so please do not let budgetary constraints deter you.
Advance copies are available to request from the publishers as well. I’m open to sharing excerpts that you may include in your syllabus or reading packets for classes.
As the book is published by a small press, we will not be able to undertake extensive publicity or outreach. We depend on the care and generosity of reading community members. If you have capacity to help us spread the word or amplify this book, we’d be most grateful. We thank you in advance for supporting this work.
With solidarity,
desibookaunty