To mark Black History Month, the Faculty of Arts Communications Division has put together a reading list of recommended reads authored by Faculty members and featuring books by a Faculty alum, the 2022 Cundill History Prize Winner, an upcoming book by Richler-in-Residence, Metonymy Press and the latest book club pick from the Department of English Student Association.
Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America by Wendell Adjetey, Department of History and Classical Studies
In Cross-Border Cosmopolitans, Wendell Adjetey dives into African American history from 1900 to 2000, with specific focus on global Black liberation movements. Professor Adjetey is an Assistant Professor of post-Reconstruction U.S. and African Diasporic history in the Department of History and Classical Studies.
His book situates 20th century issues such as immigration, civil rights, racial identity, revolution, counter-revolution, imperialism and neo-colonialism, with a diasporic North American and transatlantic frame work.
If you’ve enjoyed films such as “Jesus and the Black Messiah” and want a deeper understanding of the historical, political and social context of Black thought leaders such as Marcus Garvey, or the Black Panthers, then pick up Cross-Border Cosmopolitans.
Watch Professor Adjetey’s 2022 talk, “1919: The Year of the Revolutionary Black Messiah”, here.
The Long Road Home: on Blackness and Belonging by Debra Thompson, Department of Political Science
Lawrence Hill, award winning author of The Book of Negroes, called Debra Thompson’s The Long Road Home: On Blackness and Belonging, “essential reading for those who seek to understand the lives of Black people in both Canada and the United States.” Recounting her childhood growing up in Ontario, the story of her ancestors who escaped slavery via the underground railroad and her own subsequent journey that spanned a decade of teaching and working in the US, Debra Thompson’s personal story is interspersed with engaging examinations of the nuances of racism in the United States and Canada. The book also includes a handy reading group guide, a perfect choice for your next book club meeting.
Back in the Fall, we interviewed Debra Thompson as part of our Faculty Publication Spotlight Series. You can read the interview here.
Fun fact: Professor Thompson is featured in Hubert Davis’s, BA’00, latest documentary, Black Ice, on the history of racism in hockey in Canada.
Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides by Terri Givens, Department of Political Science
Can we fight radical hate with radical empathy? This is the question that Terri Givens, Professor of Political Science, asks in her latest book, Radical Empathy, published by Bristol University Press in February 2022. In this book, Givens weaves together her own experiences with the political and offers practical steps to call out racism and bring about radical social change. Touching upon the themes of vulnerability and unconscious bias, Givens’ book gives readers resources, exercises, and discussion points on overcoming racism with empathy.
Givens is also the author of books on immigration policy, European politics and the politics of race. Published in the same year as Radical Empathy, The Roots of Racism: The politics of white supremacy in the US and Europe” examines the past, present and future of racist ideas and politics and describes how policies have developed over a long history of European and White American dominance of political institutions that maintain White supremacy.
Fun fact: Professor Givens offers workshops based on her book, Radical Empathy.
All That She Carried: the Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Dr. Tiya Miles, winner of the 2022 Cundill History Prize
Winner of the 2022 Cundill History Prize, All That She Carried is a moving, detailed and well-researched account that traces the life of a single object, a cotton sack, handed down through generations of Black women. Written by Dr. Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History at Harvard University, All That She Carried, showcases how material culture, art and the environment can be used to tell a story in the absence of paper archives.
In the words of J.R. McNeill, the 2022 Chair of the Cindill jurors, “Tiya Miles’ All That She Carried is the winner, in a field of superb books, because of its clear and moving prose, its imaginative research, and the way the author illuminates the human condition through a family story … the world of enslaved women in the antebellum South is, by the standards of U.S. history, extremely poorly documented, but Miles has risen to that challenge in ways that show the best of the historian’s craft.”
You can watch the 2022 Cundill Forum with all three finalists here.
Fun fact: All That She Carried has won 10 literary prizes since its publication, including the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction, the 2022 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for Nonfiction and the 2022 Harriet Tubman Book Prize for Best Nonfiction book.
The Rage Letters by Valérie Bah, translated from French by Kama La Mackerel
Valérie Bah is a freelance writer, independent filmmaker, and photographer whose work focuses on black feminist and queer resistance. In Spring 2023, Metonymy Press, who is this year’s Richler Writer-in-Residence, will publish her novel, Les Enrag.é.es, which was originally published in French in 2021 by les Éditions du remue-ménage. The stories in The Rage Letters are set in Montreal and beyond, tracing the lives of a group of Black queer and trans friends as they navigate social violence, traumas, and the contradictions of their circumstances.
Metonymy Press will hold a translation conversation between Valérie Bah, Kama La Mackerel, and Stéphane Martelly on February 20. The conversation will focus on translating within and across queer, trans, black, multilingual and diaspora communities. You can register for the event here.
To find out more about Metonymy Press, read our interview with the editors here.
Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa by Khalid Medani, Department of Political Science and the Institute for Islamic Studies
In Black Markets and Militants, Professor Khalid Medani examines the different roles that informal social and economic networks have played in the rise of new forms of Islamist and ethnic politics within Africa and the Middle East. Looking at the role globalization plays in thriving informal markets, Medani’s book is a great resource for students who seek a better understanding of identity politics in Egypt, Sudan and Somalia.
We interviewed Professor Medani as part of our Faculty Publication Spotlight series. You can read our interview with him here.
In Search of the Black Fantastic by Richard Iton, BA’83, MA’87
McGill alumnus Richard Iton is recognized as a major figure in African American Studies. After completing his PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 1994, Iton went on to teach at the University of Toronto and Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In Search of the Black Fantastic won the Ralph Bunche Award of the American Political Science Association. In this book, Iton gives a clear and compelling exploration of the relationship between African American politics and popular culture from the 1920s to the present. From discussing the literature of Richard Wright to the films of Spike Lee, In Search of the Black Fantastic is a treasure trove of film, music, and literary references.
Interesting fact: His father, John Iton, also studied at McGill, earning his BA in 1962 and was a faculty member in the Department of Economics within the Faculty of Arts.
DESA Book Club pick: Beloved by Toni Morrison
The latest book pick from the Department of English Student Association (DESA) Book Club is Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved. The book, dedicated to “Sixty Million and more”, referring to the Africans and their descendants who died because of the Atlantic slave trade, turned Toni Morrison into a household name and Beloved, along with many of her other novels, are frequently featured on high school reading lists and university syllabi. You can access a copy of Beloved at the McGill Library here.
Poetry Matters – Black History Month Reading List
Founded by Professors Miranda Hickman and Michael Nicholson to create a space within the Department of English for conversations on poetry, Poetry Matters offers lectures on poetry by Faculty members, poetry readings with invited guest speakers and informal poetry workshops for students. Last year, Poetry Matters published a recommendation list of essential reads that trace the interventions and intertwining of Black lives and communities in poetry, literature, music, politics and the academy. You can view the list here and access the selection via the McGill Library.