Floating in a Most Peculiar Way: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Regular price $16.00

by Louis Chude-Sokei

*out of print hardcover*

Description

The first time Chude-Sokei realizes that he is "first son of the first son" of a renowned leader of the bygone African nation is in Uncle Daddy and Big Auntie's strict religious household in Jamaica, where he lives with other abandoned children. A visiting African has just fallen to his knees to shake him by the shoulders: "Is this the boy? Is this him?"
Chude-Sokei's immersion in the politics of race and belonging across the landscape of the African diaspora takes a turn when his traumatized mother, who has her own extraordinary history as the onetime "Jackie O of Biafra," finally sends for him to come live with her. In Inglewood, Los Angeles, on the eve of gangsta rap and the LA riots, it's as if he's fallen to earth. In this world, anything alien--definitely Chude-Sokei's secret obsession with science fiction and David Bowie--is a danger, and his yearning to become a Black American gets deeply, sometimes absurdly, complicated. Ultimately, it is a boisterous pan-African family of honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins that becomes his secret society, teaching him the redemptive skill of navigating not just Blackness, but Blacknesses, in his America.

About the Author

Louis Chude-Sokei's writing and award-winning scholarship on the literatures and cultures of the African diaspora appears widely in national and international venues. He is editor in chief of The Black Scholar, the premier journal of Black studies and research, and director of the African American Studies program at Boston University.

Product Details

Category: Memoir

Language: English

Format/Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: New

ISBN-10: 1328841588 

ISBN-13: 978-1328841582

Publisher: Mariner Books

Date Published: February 02, 2021

Pages: 240

Terms of Sale

NOTE: $10 sale books have been discounted from the list price and may have visual imperfections (most often on the cover)  but are still in good condition for reading and gifting.

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Purchaser will receive a new book that has never been read.

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