The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla
Unbound [2016]
ISBN 978-1783522958
Review by: Arome Agamah
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The value of the work comes from the insight it gives on how individuals connected to diasporic communities view themselves, their place and purpose in the place they live in, how the diaspora identify is imposed on an individual or a group of people no matter how long they have been established and how providence and cultural familiarity is subordinate to how the overwhelmingly white majority culture decides to place you.
‘The Good Immigrant’ takes the form of a collection of frank, hard hitting essays from a cast list of 21 emerging ‘Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME)’ authors. A key achievement is that the authors are truly diverse, extending beyond the default focus on ‘Black’ (African, Caribbean) and ‘Asian’ (Indian, Pakistani) and inclusive of mixed race, middle Eastern and other Asian communities. The writings are distinctive to each author, forming a window to all aspects of life reflecting personal struggles, interpersonal relationship dynamics and implications for professional settings. They are in a variety of tones ranging from deeply personal introspection, to academically oriented analysis, to the drily satirical. And often angry.
The value of the work comes from the insight it gives on how individuals connected to diasporic communities view themselves, their place and purpose in the place they live in, how the diaspora identify is imposed on an individual or a group of people no matter how long they have been established and how providence and cultural familiarity is subordinate to how the overwhelmingly white majority culture decides to place you.
The contributors are arguably over-representative of the creative, literary and journalistic fields but they nevertheless have recognisable and authentic voices that would almost certainly resonate with anyone of a BAME background, or anyone who has questioned their place in the society where they live. They go beyond preaching to the choir to prove interesting insights backed up by extensive but unobtrusive footnotes. To take one example vivid examples are highlighted to the shocking levels of discrimination experienced by British East Asian (i.e. so called ‘Oriental’) communities ranging from professional bias to verbal abuse and physical violence.
Even from the introductory note it is made clear that the objective is to describe and explore the realities, complexities and burdens of living as a ‘BAME’ person in contemporary Britain. The editors recount the genesis of the book as arising from an online article, or more specifically the negative responses below the line to an ostensibly innocuous interview/profile of a group of authors that made much of the fact that the interviewees happened to all be Asian. On the surface it is par for the course for trollish comments that are the norm these days, but is typical of the tone deaf invectives and complaints specifically thrown the way of BAME people once their speech and visibility (political correctness gone mad) hits a certain volume or once they hit a certain level of attainment (quotas and affirmative action) or begin to affect the trappings of real economic or social power. It hearkens back to the cliche whereby a person of colour has to work twice (or ten times depending who is speaking) as hard as the rest in order to get any form of recognition.
The core theme through the essays is that the reality for BAME people in Britain is far from the rosy post racial landscape promulgated by the mainstream majority society, often to quieten discontent and deflect uncomfortable questions. The truth is in fact is that people of colour are still constantly having to justify their place in society, justify their voice and to proactively demonstrate that they have indeed ‘earned’ the right to be at the table. Preferably in the accepted manner of an Olympic athlete, singer/dancer or as a producer of baked goods.
At a broader level, this collection of essays are an illustration of how communities and individuals create a home and carve out spaces for themselves, and how their constructed identities are informed by the heritage they bring with them or create for themselves. These typically happen to be in urban locations, which by their very nature function as nodes, and are usually the first point of reference when discussions turn to non-indigenous, in this case non-White British, ethnic identity. See the common synonym ‘Urban’ for Black. Perhaps the most important insight is that all these processes do not occur in a vacuum and take place in contexts that are rarely neutral and often outright hostile.
Get Sense. is part of Ka’ssa’s recommended reading and book review series.
