Hi! I am a member of a race education group in my school (11 to 18) and we are creating a reading list for the library. Our library isn’t very diverse right now (most books are written by white people about the West) and we need books on race education (privilege, discrimination, etc.) and on the history (precolonial, colonial and postcolonial, could be on neocolonialism too) and culture of underrepresented people.

Please keep in mind that these books should be acceptable by the school and approachable by students who would be unlikely to accept or read very progressive material, so themes that strongly (just strongly) contradict Western narratives should be avoided.

For example, a book on the colonisation of Palestine that exposes the oppressive nature of Zionism is mostly fine, but a book presenting Hamas as a liberation group would not be accepted (and actually illegal in my country).

You can reply with books or other reading lists that we could then review and add. I’ll finish this post with some examples of books on the reading list (keep in mind that it was for Black History Month, so all of the examples are on black people):

African Empires by Lyndon, Dan
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation In America by Carmichael, Stokely; Hamilton, Charles V
I Heard What You Said by Boakye, Jeffrey
The Assassination of Lumumba by Witte, Ludo de.
White privilege: the myth of a post-racial society by Bhopal, Kalwant

Thanks in advance!

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4 points

Dune by Frank Herbert, it does a good job taking problems with our world and framing them in a fictional context. Like the struggle of the Fremen and unregulated capitalism.

The Underground Railroad this was required reading when I was in school. It’s quite significant and about the struggles of slavery in America.

The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories This collection of short stories tries to illustrate various morals and experiences. Like how the western world glossed over the struggles of Japanese people soon after the nuclear bombings.

The Satanic Verses This one is a hard sell, especially given the constraints you’ve set. Put bluntly it’s a mockery of biblical texts, but it’s highlighting the whimsical nature of religion and its chilling effects. People have been murdered over this book and I feel it wouldn’t be fair to those who have died not to mention it here.

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2 points

Thank you! We may have to more carefully consider adding The Satanic Verses, but the rest of the books look like great choices!

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