About The Bookslamist
Here at the Bookslamist we believe you can never divorce anything you read, fiction or non-fiction, from the world you inhabit. For us, Bookslamism, is the integration of what we reflect on, into our lives and into our thinking.
Whether it is the racism that has become institutionalised in societies around the world for generations, or the way the world tragically altered after the attacks on 11 September 2001, communities have struggled to make sense of things. Often representations of people of colour and their communities are fuelled by ignorance and lies. Part of understanding where we are, and how to better interact with the problems we see in the world, is to read (more), and take lessons from what we read. And from what others read and recommend. Read. Recommend. Read.
Although our work (and so our reading) often focuses on issues related to social justice and identities, we want this blog to be a conversation about ideas further than that, especially as we attempt to understand how the violence that is perpetrated against communities, is both physical and epistemic. This is central to the blog. That we seek to resist these forms of violence by first understanding who we are, are where we are situated in the world we live in.
This is not a traditional book review blog. We want our contributors to challenge themselves in what they read, and to challenge us all in the process. Read. Challenge. Read. Recommend.
While we will attempt to review the content of books where we can, we hope this blog will serve as a platform from which we can have a conversation about how books enrich our lives and thinking.
We hope you enjoy the blog, and even if you do not agree with some of our reflections, perhaps you will take away something for yourself.
Happy reading!
The Bookslamist.
p.s. We decided to name this blog The Bookslamist because we liked the play on words…we’ll let you figure out what that means.