Plantation Memories
Episodes of Everyday Racism - Grada Kilomba
This was a very special book I read this year. Grada Kilomba is a sensational artist, and her work dialogues with concepts of memory, trauma, violence, and the question of what gets spoken about. In this book, we have a compilation of episodes of racism faced by Black women from different backgrounds in Germany. In each chapter, Grada traces these women's accounts, connecting their stories to a colonial and racist past that still persists—sometimes subtly, and sometimes not so much—in contemporary Europe.
It is a book that speaks directly to the experience of being a Black immigrant in Europe who simultaneously has more opportunities than those offered in their homeland. It makes us question whether a certain phrase was said spontaneously or if it carries a weight of racism and prejudice that has been embedded in society since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade.
Reading this book was discussed collectively through a book club, and hearing different yet similar stories from the Brazilian Black diaspora in Europe was essential to shedding light on a concept that was new to me until then. As Grada Kilomba herself clarifies in the book:
'...Everyday racism is not a single violent event in one´s individual biography, as it is commonly believed - something that “might have happened once or twice” - but rather an accumulation of violent events that at the same time reveal an historical pattern of racial abuse involving not only the horrors of racist violence, but also the collective memories of colonial trauma.' Grada Kilomba, Plantation Memories, pg 141 (2026)
This is certainly a book that hits you deeply and needs to be read and reread to fully digest its concepts. Yet at the same time, it is a fast-paced and accessible read. Grada writes fluidly, and even while addressing heavy themes, she guides us through a precise reading experience.
Beyond this book, I highly recommend visiting Grada Kilomba's official website to explore more of her incredible multidisciplinary work.
Grada Kilomba - Font: Grada Kilomba photo by Pablo Saborido.Available at: https://www.gradakilomba.com/about
I also recommend her interview with the Inhotim Institute team in Brazil, alongside actress Taís Araújo: Taís Araujo interview Grada Kilomba. (Interview in Portuguese, but with the option to turn on English subtitles in YouTube settings).
How about you? Have you explored Grada Kilomba's work yet? Let me know in the comments!
Synopsis:
Plantation Memories is a compilation of episodes of everyday racism written in the form of short psychoanalytical stories. From the question “Where do you come from?” to Hair Politics to the N-word, the book is a strong, eloquent, and elaborate piece that deconstructs the normality of everyday racism and exposes the violence of being placed as the Other.
Released at the Berlin International Literature Festival in 2008, soon the book became internationally acclaimed and part of numerous academic curricula. Known for her subversive practice of giving body, voice, and image to her own texts, Grada Kilomba has adapted her book into a staged reading and video installation. Plantation Memories is an important contribution to the global cultural discourse.
Publisher : Between the Lines
Publication date : 01 May 2021
Language : English
Print length : 154 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1771135511
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