264 pages.
First published 2020.
Finished reading on 3 Dec 2020
Genre: Non-fiction
Thoughtful, original reflections on migration and identity from an African woman abroad.
What does it feel like to move through a world designed to limit and exclude you? What are the joys and pains of holidays for people of colour, when guidebooks are never written with them in mind? How are black lives today impacted by the othering legacy of colonial cultures and policies? What can travel tell us about our sense of self, of home, of belonging and identity? Why has the world order become hostile to human mobility, as old as humanity itself, when more people are on the move than ever? Nanjala Nyabola is constantly exploring the world, working with migrants and confronting complex realities challenging common assumptions – both hers and others’. From Nepal to Botswana, Sicily to Haiti, New York to Nairobi, her sharp, humane essays ask tough questions and offer surprising, deeply shocking and sometimes funny answers. It is time we saw the world through her eyes.
A friend bought this almost as soon as it read released, and he was kind enough to lend it to me.
Posting screens and tweets I posted on Twitter as I read it. Apologies for the crooked shots, which I’ll always manage with physical books. >>
(Highlighting this bc feeling some typa way about the writing so far, and this feels typical; but, mind remains open.)
(“Mangwato tribe – Wikipedia” https://t.co/6PIXOC8zTi)
(Will state for the record that I hate the word ‘tribe.’)
The essay about Bessie Head was wonderful, and very moving. The author travelled to Serowe to learn more about this great writer. I was devastated to learn more about how Head lived. (I look forward to reading her books for the first time — an unacceptable gap in my reading journey.)
I was surprised to learn that it’s difficult for Kenyans to visit South Africa. Because I’ve always lived in the SADC region, travel around this region (except to Angola) has mostly felt frictionless.
The African Is Not At Home was an excellent essay on xenophobia, Pan Africanism, decolonisation, etc.
A book written with great passion, & it carries you along. But as author explains at the beginning, she’s coming from a place of privilege as she writes; and that comes across throughout the book, down to ways she sees, perhaps.
Then, I struggled to tell who the audience of the book was to be: Academics? Humanitarian workers? Westerners? Privileged Africans who travel? This kind of distracted me, especially when I came to dense passages full of jargon & high concepts. In that sense, this is not the most accessible book.
However, there’s a lot to think about in here, and it’s very much worth reading, not least because it’s an important voice, and an important perspective: a black woman, about travel, race, politics, Africa, xenophobia, writing, and much else.
Recommended.
Rated: 10/10
Update: The lovely Ms Nyabola was kind enough to respond to my Twitter review:
Harare Review of Books 
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