GUARDIAN MUST READ BOOKS OF 2019
FINANCIAL TIMES BOOKS TO READ 2019
NEW STATESMAN MUST READS 2019
‘A truly radical book, which manages to be unflinching and constantly entertaining’
CAROLINE SANDERSON, THE BOOKSELLER BOOK OF THE MONTH APRIL 2019
‘This book gives a voice to those whose experience is persistently defined, refined and denied by others’ DAVID LAMMY, GUARDIAN
*
Who is a roadman really? What’s wrong with calling someone a ‘lighty’? Why do people think black guys are cool?
These are just some of the questions being wrestled with in Black, Listed, an exploration of 21st century black identity told through a list of insults, insights and everything in-between.
Taking a panoramic look at global black history, interrogating both contemporary and historical culture, Black, Listed investigates the ways in which black communities (and individuals) have been represented, oppressed, mimicked, celebrated, and othered. Part historical study, part autobiographical musing, part pop culture vivisection, it’s a comprehensive attempt to make sense of blackness from the vantage point of the hilarious and insightful psyche of Jeffrey Boakye. Along the way, it explores a far reaching range of social and cultural contexts, including but not limited to, sport, art, entertainment, politics, literature, history, music, theatre, cinema, education and criminal justice, sometimes at the same time.
FINANCIAL TIMES BOOKS TO READ 2019
NEW STATESMAN MUST READS 2019
‘A truly radical book, which manages to be unflinching and constantly entertaining’
CAROLINE SANDERSON, THE BOOKSELLER BOOK OF THE MONTH APRIL 2019
‘This book gives a voice to those whose experience is persistently defined, refined and denied by others’ DAVID LAMMY, GUARDIAN
*
Who is a roadman really? What’s wrong with calling someone a ‘lighty’? Why do people think black guys are cool?
These are just some of the questions being wrestled with in Black, Listed, an exploration of 21st century black identity told through a list of insults, insights and everything in-between.
Taking a panoramic look at global black history, interrogating both contemporary and historical culture, Black, Listed investigates the ways in which black communities (and individuals) have been represented, oppressed, mimicked, celebrated, and othered. Part historical study, part autobiographical musing, part pop culture vivisection, it’s a comprehensive attempt to make sense of blackness from the vantage point of the hilarious and insightful psyche of Jeffrey Boakye. Along the way, it explores a far reaching range of social and cultural contexts, including but not limited to, sport, art, entertainment, politics, literature, history, music, theatre, cinema, education and criminal justice, sometimes at the same time.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Intense and compelling from the very beginning, Jeffrey Boakye bravely explores the ways in which people with darker skin are located in language . . . This book gives a voice to those whose experience is persistently defined, refined and denied by others. Boakye shows how language does not always have to be insulting, offensive or loaded, it can also be incredibly emancipatory, particularly when the black community takes ownership of the terms of prose . . . If blackness is a maze, then we must be the ones who design it. With architects like Jeffrey Boakye, I'm optimistic we can build ourselves an authentic future
A truly radical book, which manages to be unflinching and constantly entertaining
Inventive, refreshing and humorous . . . Boakye's quirky dictionary of black-related terms never fails to surprise and entertain
A radical exploration of black British culture that is as entertaining as it is politically weighty
Urgent, timely reading
A panoramic exploration of black identity
Boakye is a witty, passionate guide in this thoughtful examination of what black culture and identity mean in Britain
Boakye aims to challenge, complicate and undo assumptions about what blackness means, often taking surprising routes . . . Black, Listed covers some terrain similar to that of recent books such as Akala's blistering Natives and Reni Eddo Logdge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, and while Boakye may share those authors' political intent, his humour sets him apart. He is a winningly funny "tour guide". . . The unpredictable range of his references is exciting . . . As he argues against the endlessly problematic ways in which blackness has been categorized and codified, taking on the "biggest and the blackest of the big black stereotypes", the text bobs, weaves and wanders - always one thrilling step ahead
Wit abounds in Jeffrey Boakye's insightful Black, Listed, a kind of periodic table of 60 words and phrases used down the ages to describe black people
Light-footed cultural analysis riffs elegantly on subjects including Meghan Markle and Marvel's Black Panther . . . a sharp critic
Boakye's exploration of language, race and the ways in which we use both to demean and repress people is thought-provoking, occasionally irreverent and always interesting
Insightful and funny, combining history with personal musings and pop-culture references, it's a comprehensive guide to Black identity in Britain today