Refusing to Yield: African Exile's Global Struggle

In this deeply personal and unflinchingly honest exploration, Manthia Diawara recounts the bittersweet experience of an expatriate who no longer lives life as an "African" yet is the object of others' fantasies and fears about people of the dark continent. Comparing his fortunes in America with those of his cousins in Paris, Diawara assesses the way tradition and community give meaning to their lives, despite the ugliness of modern French attitudes toward Africans. At the same time, he confronts the trauma experienced by Africans in America such as Amadou Diallo. Diawara's experience of life as an African and an African American yields fresh and stunning insights about race, ethnic identity, immigration, and assimilation in the modern globalized world.

This important and original book will shatter many cherished notions about what it means to experience race as an African in the world today. Beautifully written and shrewdly argued, its unsentimental view of African culture and traditions, as well as its debunking of the idealized promise of an unracialized life abroad, is certain to ignite debate. In this deeply personal and unflinchingly honest exploration of what it means to be African, Diawara's recounting of the bittersweet experience of an expatriate who no longer lives life as an "African" yet is the object of others' fantasies and fears about people of the dark continent is a powerful and thought-provoking work.

Diawara's comparative analysis of his fortunes in America and those of his cousins in Paris sheds light on the way tradition and community give meaning to their lives, despite the ugliness of modern French attitudes toward Africans. His confrontation of the trauma experienced by Africans in America, such as Amadou Diallo, further underscores the complex and often challenging realities of race, ethnic identity, immigration, and assimilation in the modern globalized world.

This book's unsentimental view of African culture and traditions, as well as its debunking of the idealized promise of an unracialized life abroad, is certain to ignite debate and shatter many cherished notions about what it means to experience race as an African in the world today. Beautifully written and shrewdly argued, Diawara's work offers fresh and stunning insights that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on readers.

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