I am a migrant person of colour who has spent half their entire life in many all-white schools that had students and teachers that perpetuated racism common of a bygone era (weird to hear, I know) and I think I struggle a lot with internalised racism because of it.
Internalised racism refers to the acceptance, consciously or unconsciously, of racist attitudes, stereotypes, and beliefs about one’s own racial or ethnic group. It involves individuals from a marginalized racial or ethnic group internalizing the negative perceptions and stereotypes associated with their own race, often to seek validation or acceptance from the dominant culture. This often involves downplaying or demeaning aspects of their own racial or ethnic identity in an attempt to assimilate. I have been looking for collections on this topic however there don’t seem to be very many.
Do you have any recommendations?
by Extreme_Estimate_644
3 Comments
It’s been decades since I read it, but I think the themes of the novel the Bluest Eye might resonate,
Two essay collections by Claudia Rankine: Citizen and Just Us. In addition to dealing with huge, important topics, they’re really cool books with a lot of multimedia worked in.
Are you interested in fiction about this topic? The Chinese American author Ken Liu has written about a billion short stories, some of which are about internalized racism. [The Paper Menagerie](https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/Ken_Liu.html) being the first example that comes to mind, which you can read free at the link or find in [this collection](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24885533-the-paper-menagerie-and-other-stories).
For nonfiction, you may like the memoir [Stealing Buddha’s Dinner](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209572.Stealing_Buddha_s_Dinner) by Bich Min Nguyen, a Vietnamese American.