Afropean not Brexitean

Pigeon Thinking

Afropean not Brexitean
Labels are always dangerous. Not sure that I dare put my toe into this particular water but here goes. I was once married to a man from St Kitts, a teacher and a poet and he taught me what I should and shouldn’t say (and a lot more besides…). I mean, he (and his mother) taught me which labels I should and shouldn’t use. They explained why words I hadn’t thought about from their point of view could be offensive. And I learned, but the words which were acceptable then have changed e.g. he would have  described himself as West Indian in the 80s, but not now. If he’s anything, he’s black British or possibly just British. Definitely not BME (black and minority ethnic) or BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic). The labels are always changing and they’re drenched in emotion because it’s all about identity. Our words reflect our world but we do have the power of choice.

Labels can be comforting, insulting or aspirational and they pose a dilemma because they exclude as well as include. I can say I’m a South Derbyshire gel (comforting but limiting – it’s where I’m from but it doesn’t feel accurate) or I could say I’m now a Hastinger (aspirational because although I live here and love the place, I wasn’t born here) or I could go big and say I’m a European (which I often do because that’s what I feel I am).

So what are you? Are you English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish or are you British or European? Or  Polish, Hungarian, Finnish, German, French, Spanish etc. or European? Hopefully, you are more than one of these but if you had to choose, then what would it be? It’s not just about belonging, about which group is yours and which group is not. It’s about where you want to belong. It’s about making a group that you like. It’s about making a new world (Phew! but that is what I mean.)

And that’s what Johnny Pitts thinks. He has a vision. He wants to be “Afropean” and he’s written a book about it. Me, too, I think it sounds good. Read the book review in The Guardian and see what you think. Or buy it – Afropean: Notes from Black Europe – out on June 6, 2019

Umi Sinha wrote a novel called Belonging. It’s about love and loss, past and present and moving worlds from India to the UK. I read this book a few years ago and was enthralled.

Pigeons At Home

I could go on. We were talking at lunch yesterday about homing pigeons and whether it’s an instinct that we all have. Apparently, it is. Even sparrows can do it. So what happens when we move house, move to another place or another country? Is it the land we are attached to or the people? Do we get so confused that we don’t know where we belong or is it good for us? Have your wings stretched wide? I think mine are flapping all over the place (but I like it).



extract from my Hastings Online Times blogpost 'Best Bookshops: The Bookkeeper Bookshop, St Leonards' 04/06/2019