The Books That Made Me by Jamil F Khan, author of Khamr: The Making of a Waterslams

Jacana Media has shared The Books That Made Me by Jamil F Khan, author of Khamr: The Making of a Waterslams, due early 2020.

The article is part of a series that began with author Vanessa Govender sharing her list.

See her choices here

The Books That Made Me by Jamil F Khan

Title: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Author: Maya Angelou

In fact it was the entire anthology of Dr Angelou’s autobiography that resonated. It astounded me to see how many different circumstances one person found herself in and still she became one of the most respected people in the world, without hiding the ugly truths she has lived.

Title: Plantation Memories: Episodes of Everyday Racism

Author: Grada Kilomba

My relationship with academia is very complicated. Grada’s work has become somewhat of a template for me on how to use academic knowledge in creative, accessible ways while fully understanding the system I am up against. She has shown me there is more than just a stiff upper lip to being an academic.

Title: What is Slavery to Me? Postcolonial/Slave Memory in Post-apartheid South Africa

Author: Pumla Dineo Gqola

This book was instrumental in not only my research, but my personal understandings of Blackness as it relates to Colouredness. Prof Gqola has the sharpest mind and I have never encountered work on the topic that was so insightful, sensitive, honest and critical all at the same time. It is scholarship I aspire to.