in a bit of a tizzy about race

[walkitout]

I got to thinking about Courtenay and McCall Smith, and thought, gosh, I've now been put in a situation where I read a couple of books by white men about (a) Africa and in McCall Smith's case (b) an African woman. I would not otherwise have read these books. I feel a need for a bit of cleansing, say, maybe, something written _by_ a South African who was, say, _NOT_ white and, ideally, a woman. I've got a lovely little list here:

Zoe Wicomb

You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (stories)
David's Story
Playing in the Light

Marlene van Niekerk, Triomf

Margaret McCord (white), The Calling of Katie Makanya

(I had a much longer list, but these ones look tempting enough to pursue immediately.)

And all of those are available via ILL. I may add Nelson Mandela's autobiography to the list (because there ought to be a Messiah, right?), and am toying with the idea of buying _Women in South African History_ by Nomboniso Gasa, which I discovered over at The Angry Black Woman's blog. While I was there, I figured I'd read the archived posts she's got listed as required reading, and that was really enjoyable. Living in Brookline, NH is at times a bit challenging; in Seattle, I'd surrounded myself with people who were good at raising my consciousness. I don't much care for the reverse situation.

But it was a little weird to see the post about the Pirates sequel. Check it out:

http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/cannibals-of-the-caribbean/

I _remember_ being pissed off about the cannibalism, but I only posted about the sexism (coded as vagina dentata at Captain Jack).

http://walkitout.livejournal.com/122469.html