akala race and class in the ruins of empire

Although a lot of Akala’s experience were some I had expected (a lifetime of experience as an ethnic minority and years of studying race and class will teach you a few things), there were so many insightful passages and so much new information that I found myself researching further and wanting to learn more about.

For me this was one of the first non-fiction books I’ve ever read which wasn’t for an assignment and I honestly enjoyed it so much. On top of this, each chapter has a new focus and so the book covers a range of topic in-depth, but in small manageable chunks that prevents it from becoming a boring drawl of never-ending facts. While some chapters are drawn from personal experiences and contain snippets of Akala’s own life in a wider context of factual evidence and political discourse, others focus more on media depictions of black and brown bodies and historical analyses of race, class and colonialism to draw parallels between the past and present. Discussing his experiences of growing up in the inner city areas of London and the influence of media, teachers and family on his upbringing, this book explores pivotal events that shaped the authors understanding of himself as a racialised individual, whilst simultaneously acknowledging the intersectionality of social class and race in his experiences. Using personal stories and anecdotes alongside statistical evidence to back up his points, Akala manages to cover everything from gangs, crime an police brutality, to the slavery, white supremacy and facing the realisation, as a kid who was racialised as black, that his mum is white. In this book Akala talks about his experience of growing up as a mixed race, ‘half black Caribbean and half white Scottish’ boy in a working class area of London. Having listened to his music for a few years now, watched endless interviews and talks and been a keen followers of his on social media, I was super excited to read this book and bought it pretty soon after it was published- I just didn’t get round to it until I completed all my uni assignments. For those of you who don’t know, Akala is a well-known British hip-hop artist and activist who not only takes an anti-colonial, academic approach within his music, but has also spoken on race and class in universities, online platform, and on news channels across the country. This is a non-fiction, academic style book which offers historical and sociological analyses, alongside personal accounts and reflections, of race/ethnicity and social class in Britain. Today, I wanted to write a review on the Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire.

Akala race and class in the ruins of empire