Customer Reviews

The Black Body

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great collection of personal stories that explored the meaning of black bodies in contemporary society. It is a great read for anyone (Black, white, Asian American, Latino/a, Native American, etc.) who wants to learn how race continues to shape contemporary life. It is eye-opening and frustrating but mandatory reading for anyone who thinks the U.S. is post-race.

I would definitively recommend it. It's a great reading and a good inspiration that sparks reflecting further on the real, incremental and underused value of diversity in this "global village" that Earth has turned on for good."How can we have meaningful discussions about race when our descriptions of race defy common sense?" in words of Werner Disse, one of the many contributors to this book. I particularly fancied Susan Matus' relation of a "very-white" looking woman living in Harlem and I was very touched for her heart felt account of her personal discovery journey through the relationship she established with one particular individual in her neighborhood, that allowed her to overcome her initial fear and transmute it into some new inner light to see the world through. Same as with Matus and Disse's personal relations, all the different larger than life contributions to Danquah's collection are absolutely worthy and make it very easy to put ourselves in the shoes of the different individuals and share their memoirs, and I find myself enriched after the reading. Again, I highly recommend THE BLACK BODY.

I went to a recent panel discussion, hosted by the editor, and several of the essayist. I thought I was listening to a post antebellum diatribe on race in America. The entire panel either was suffering from severe post traumatic stress from their past or present racial encounters. The premise of the book is an old archaic post civil rights discussion on race. Led by a Ghanaian who has bought in to the orientalist view of race.