A story of migration, identity and belonging, drawing on the stories of people from Audrey Osler's mixed-heritage family, over three centuries. Whether or not we trace our families from beyond the shores of Britain, we British people deserve a better understanding of our shared past, and opportunities to explore and recognise the complexities and contractions of empire. Careless or wilful amnesia has allowed the British migration narrative to begin in the mid-twentieth century, with migrants from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean forming the foundation of present-day multicultural Britain. A racist fixation means that some twenty-first-century Britons fantasise that people of colour arrived after World War Two, without any link to the country, to exploit the British welfare state and British hospitality. For people of colour the questions, Where are you from? No, where are you really from? often imply more than simple curiosity. They are political questions of identity, since the assumption (naive or aggressive) is that to be British and to belong you must be white. Says Audrey Osler: 'The British Empire frames and shapes my family's history. Whether born in Britain, like me or my father, or in some other distant British territory, like my mother, we all continue to experience the legacy of this same empire and the impact of its ambitions, politics, and economics. My family story, back to the eighteenth century, across every generation, is one of migration in different directions, over four centuries, journeys prompted by war, study, a global economic crisis, a fresh start, love, and even child abduction. The stories I tell here reveal as much about Britain as they do about the countries of the British Empire. This is not just my history, it elucidates the largely untold history of a nation and of its citizens, both people of colour and white.'

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a revelatory examination of race in America Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend? In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life. "Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told." ―Phoebe Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair

But Where Are You Really From? is a thought-provoking book about identity from CEO of Christian Aid, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi. Through telling the story of her experience as a Christian black woman with Zambian heritage, born and living in the UK, she explores issues of race and culture and how it feels to be judged on skin colour when identity is made up of so many things. Until we share and make time to listen to a diversity of stories, dangerous assumptions will persist. This little book offers a challenge to those assumptions and polarising perceptions while celebrating the universal connections we all share. Read it, and discover a new perspective on identity, humanhood and hope. But Where Are You Really From? is a book for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the current race and cultural transformation that is happening across the world today. A powerful story from the voice of a successful black woman, navigating the search for identity against a backdrop of faith, humanity and hope that needs to be heard.

'An engrossing, urgent, and entertaining read. I couldn't put it down' Roddy Doyle ______ Marguerite Penrose's is an extraordinary story of making a great life from complicated beginnings. Marguerite was born in a Dublin mother-and-baby home in 1974, the daughter of an Irish mother and a Zambian father. Severe scoliosis indicated a future of difficult medical procedures. She was a little girl who needed a break. And she got it at three when she was fostered - and later adopted - by a young couple, Mick and Noeline, and acquired a mam, dad, sister, Ciara, and loving extended family. Growing up, Marguerite's appearance was occasionally remarked on by strangers, but it wasn't until her teens that she understood that her skin colour was a provocation for some. The progressive city that she knew was revealed to have an unpleasant undercurrent. So, she became an expert in shaping her life around anything that marked her out as 'different'. Marguerite's story is one of facing some big questions - Who am I? How do I live in world made for people with bodies different to mine? Why does anyone care about my skin colour? - with intelligence, humour, courage and common-sense. She writes about coming to terms with the circumstances of her birth and, like so many in her position, looking for answers. About navigating the world as an active woman with a disability. About what it means to be both Irish and Black, particularly at a moment when the conversation is becoming mainstream in Ireland and she is thinking about it in new ways herself. Mostly, she writes about embracing life in a spirit of openness and positivity. Yeah, But Where Are You Really From? is a captivating, wise and inspiring memoir by a truly remarkable woman. ___________ 'Beautiful, moving, tender and informative' SINÉAD MORIARTY 'Wonderful' MIRIAM O'CALLAGHAN

A remarkable true story from social justice advocate and national bestselling author Julissa Arce about her journey to belong in America while growing up undocumented in Texas. Born in the picturesque town of Taxco, Mexico, Julissa Arce was left behind for months at a time with her two sisters, a nanny, and her grandma while her parents worked tirelessly in America in hopes of building a home and providing a better life for their children. That is, until her parents brought Julissa to Texas to live with them. From then on, Julissa secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant, went on to become a scholarship winner and an honors college graduate, and climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs. This moving, at times heartbreaking, but always inspiring story will show young readers that anything is possible. Julissa's story provides a deep look into the little-understood world of a new generation of undocumented immigrants in the United States today--kids who live next door, sit next to you in class, or may even be one of your best friends.

INSTANT BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS’ TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION From a leading scholar on the politics of race comes a work of family history, memoir, and insight gained from a unique journey across the continent, on what it is to be Black in North America. When Debra Thompson moved to the United States in 2010, she felt like she was returning to the land of her ancestors, those who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. But her decade-long journey across Canada and the US transformed her relationship to both countries, and to the very idea of home. In The Long Road Home, Thompson follows the roots of Black identities in North America and the routes taken by those who have crisscrossed the world’s longest undefended border in search of freedom and belonging. She begins in Shrewsbury, Ontario, one of the termini of the Underground Railroad and the place where members of her own family found freedom. More than a century later, Thompson still feels the echoes and intergenerational trauma of North American slavery. She was often the Only One—the only Black person in so many white spaces—in a country that perpetuates the national mythology of multiculturalism. Then she revisits her four American homes, each of which reveals something peculiar about the relationship between American racism and democracy: Boston, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the American Revolution; Athens, Ohio, where the white working class and the white liberal meet; Chicago, Illinois, the great Black metropolis; and Eugene, Oregon, the western frontier. She then moves across the border and settles in Montreal, a unique city with a long history of transnational Black activism, but one that does not easily accept the unfamiliar and the foreign into the fold. The Long Road Home is a moving personal story and a vital examination of the nuances of racism in the United States and Canada. Above all, it is about the power of freedom and the dreams that link and inspire Black people across borders from the perspective of one who has deep ties to, critiques of, and hope for both countries.

Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Class: Dimensions of Inequality, edited by renowned researcher and scholar Susan Ferguson, presents a contemporary and compelling overview of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class issues in the United States today. Taking an intersectional approach, the book is organized topically, rather than focusing on specific race/ethnic subgroups. The content is framed around the themes of identity, experiences of race, class, gender or sexuality, difference, inequality, and social change or personal empowerment, with historical context threaded throughout to deepen the reader's understanding. With engaging readings and cutting-edge scholarship the collection is not only refreshingly contemporary but also relevant to students’ lives.

This reader introduces students to the social research process by pairing 16 published research articles with candid interviews with the lead researcher on each study.

Powerful insights from ministers, theologians, activists, leaders, artists and liturgists who are shaping the future. "Christianity has been a source of the oppression of women, as well as a resource for unleashing women's full humanity. Feminist analysis and practice have recognized this. Feminist Christianity is reshaping religious institutions and religious life in more holistic, inclusive, and justice-focused ways." —from the Introduction Feminism has brought many changes to Christian religious practice. From inclusive language and imagery about the Divine to an increase in the number of women ministers, Christian worship will never be the same. Yet, even now, there is a lack of substantive structural change in many churches and complacency within denominations. The contributors to this book are the thought leaders who are shaping, and being shaped by, the emerging directions of feminist Christianity. They speak from across the denominational spectrum, and from the many diverse groups that make up the Christian community as it finds its place in a religiously pluralistic world. Taken together, their voices offer a starting point for building new models of religious life and worship. Topics covered include feminist: • Theological Visions • Scriptural Insights • Ethical Agendas • Liturgical and Artistic Frontiers • Ministerial Challenges

From Afua Hirsch - co-presenter of Samuel L. Jackson's major BBC TV series Enslaved - the Sunday Times bestseller that reveals the uncomfortable truth about race and identity in Britain today. You're British. Your parents are British. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British. So why do people keep asking where you're from? We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch's personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be - and an urgent call for change. 'The book for our divided and dangerous times' David Olusoga