Plantation Memories by Grada Kilomba is the kind of read that can benefit every reader. It will be uncomfortable for some (if they are truly engaging with it and being honest with themselves) while it will likely be empowering for others. And many things in between.

While the book and the incidents are focused on German society it is not applicable only there. The theory Kilomba cites when analyzing the separate incidents touch on racism around the globe, so this speaks just as well to someone in the United States (such as myself) as to someone in Germany.

I was particularly pleased that she took the time to explain her methodology and rationale for how she conducted her research. I think it makes it easier to appreciate what we are reading as well as sets the reader up to approach the material with a better understanding.

When one uses specific incidents to extrapolate broader trends and meanings, there is the inherent need to read things into the specific incident that may not be there in order to explain the larger picture within which the specific incident took place. As an example, based strictly on what is included in the book, the example of a doctor asking a young girl to come on vacation with his family and basically be their servant carries a lot of racist baggage. In the discussion, Kilomba expands the incident to include how the wife and daughters think of the girl when, based on what is included in the book, they weren't there and weren't even aware the doctor had broached the subject. That doesn't make the inclusion of the fictional part of the incident less important since it could have been part of the girl's understanding of the offer, so it is valid. But it is not part of the actual incident, it is part of the baggage that makes initial suggestion even more racist than it first appears. I have no doubt I expressed my point poorly here, I am not trying to say the analysis, which goes beyond the actual incident, is wrong or even misleading, just that as written it implies that people who may not have even known the offer was extended are, in fact, looking down on the girl, when we have no evidence that, in this specific incident, that is the case. That said, I would not be at all surprised if, had things gone further, those people would have displayed those feelings. The more important point, and the one Kilomba emphasizes throughout, is that these "maybes" are part of the reception by these Black women, and thus must be brought into the discussion. Otherwise, these women are not really being heard.

I would highly recommend this to readers who want to know more about the interlocking and intersecting elements of racism and sexism in contemporary society.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )