Abstract
This presentation looks at memoir-polemics focusing on racism. Recent examples include journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, journalist/lawyer Afua Hirsch’s ‘Brit(ish): Race, Identity and Belonging’, rapper/social commentator Akala with Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire, as well as my upcoming autoethnographical addition Stained Glass Eyes: A Memoir on Race, Family and Multiculturalism. Like these other life-writers, it has been a journey bringing my racist experiences to the fore. It started with xenophobia experienced at school being actively silenced by pupils walking away from conversations about racism; actively silenced by teachers squashing any complaints (mentioned in Akala’s Natives); and passively silenced by family who were going through their own strives with racial abuse and me not wanting to pile onto them. The next stage was university studies and trying to bridge the knowledge gap of racism’s existence and execution brought over from my gagged childhood leaving many questions unanswered. However, whilst higher education was enlightening in some areas, the experience evoked even more questions than it answered (mentioned in Afua Hirsch’s Brit[ish]).
In my working life, after hearing too many stories of racial bigotry overlapping with my own, I decided to write SGE to expose racism and drive social change towards ethical parity. But self-censorship still tempted my gumption, tentatively changing all ‘controversial’ truth to red font for later omission. My text’s colour coding was apparently pandering to the same white fragility informing my speech’s colour coding from school days. No, these stories encapsulating the plight of Black people should all be in black font, the controversy held within being the audacity of racism, not the audacity of me to voice it (infused in Reni Eddo-Lodge’s title ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’).
So, like these other life-writers/change-makers on race, watch this space to hear me undo the silence…
Bio
Abíọ́dún ‘Abbey’ Abdul (she/her) is a Yorùbá-Nigerian writer and UNESCO Cities of Literature Global Poetry Slam Winner 2022. Fascinated by how grammar could be bent to facilitate new meaning and enhance creative expression, she has worked for several years in higher education as an English Language Lecturer & Assessor across the globe, including NTU. Her expressive writing includes life essays and autoethnographical memoir-polemics encompassing her schooling across Africa, Europe and Asia. She also writes Yorùbá-centred short stories and poetry on social justice and topics celebrating our common humanity. Her work has been published in anthologies and she presents/performs at literary festivals and conferences.
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