“This is the third interview in the LARB series “Decolonize | Defund | Abolish,” which engages scholars, artists, and activists in dialogues about structures of colonialism persisting in the world today, and about creative and speculative practices of freedom in response to these structures. In this installment, Grégory Pierrot speaks to Mame-Fatou Niang, associate professor of French at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, author of Identités Françaises: Banlieues, féminités et universalisme (2019) and co-director, with Kaytie Nielsen, of the film Mariannes Noires: Une Mosaïque Afropéenne, a plural portrait of seven Black French women.“

Read the interview here.

“The Radical Book Collective (RBC) is an initiative founded by Bhakti Shringarpure, Editor-in-Chief of Warscapes magazine, and Suchitra Vijayan author of Midnight’s Borders. As stated on the website, the project ‘responds to the need for an alternative, inclusive and non-commercial approach to books and reading.’

The profit-driven model of mainstream literary culture and big publishing, which favors award-winning books and bestsellers, has excluded books that, despite having considerable merit, are different. Some of these books are ‘unapologetically political.’ Others explore unfamiliar worlds and experiences. The Radical Books Collective creates the space for readers to experience the irreverence of engaging with these kinds of books that break the mold. Every month, ‘publishers, bookstores, authors, booklovers and bookworms everywhere’ meet to talk about a recently published ‘radical book.’ These meetings often includes a chat with the author.

Anyone can join the book club for a nominal fee. Follow this link for more information.”

“The beauty and the force of Decolonize Hipsters is the way Pierrot folds and unfolds the pleats of historical moments to tell a story of race in the Atlantic world…. The genius of this book is not just in Pierrot’s analysis but in his delivery of it… Pierrot’s humor is the kind that refuses to soft pedal for anyone’s comfort. He reveals this kind of accommodation to be part of the problem in the first place: the hipster’s recourse to snark and irony is an insidious dodge… Pierrot’s accounting of the consequences of hipsterdom on present day politics is damning. The cult of individuality and commitment to burnishing one’s quirkiness is exposed for what it is: depoliticization, consumerism, complicity… In the end, though, Pierrot offers a path forward—the possibility of breaking the cycle of colonization, appropriation, and theft. He brings a genuine spirit of hopefulness imbued with a generosity that cannot but feel a bit heartbreaking.”

Read the review here.

“The beauty and the force of Decolonize Hipsters is the way Pierrot folds and unfolds the pleats of historical moments to tell a story of race in the Atlantic world…. The genius of this book is not just in Pierrot’s analysis but in his delivery of it… Pierrot’s humor is the kind that refuses to soft pedal for anyone’s comfort. He reveals this kind of accommodation to be part of the problem in the first place: the hipster’s recourse to snark and irony is an insidious dodge… Pierrot’s accounting of the consequences of hipsterdom on present day politics is damning. The cult of individuality and commitment to burnishing one’s quirkiness is exposed for what it is: depoliticization, consumerism, complicity… In the end, though, Pierrot offers a path forward—the possibility of breaking the cycle of colonization, appropriation, and theft. He brings a genuine spirit of hopefulness imbued with a generosity that cannot but feel a bit heartbreaking.”

Read the full review here.

“DECOLONIZE HIPSTERS, the opening salvo in a new series of handbooks, places hipsters at the vanguard of a movement that starts with gentrification but ends with gifting Trump the White House and giving rise and misguided succour to white supremacists… Quoting Karl Marx through to Lemmy from Motorhead, Pierrot fleshes out the essence of modern hipsterdom and its pernicious contemporary manifestations…. Fast, furious and best read in one sitting… in your face for all the right reasons, it’s full of fun and thoughtful facts, interesting anecdotes and parallels that all lead in the same direction — how hipsters steal, suck up and squander what they should hold dear… A quick and thought-provoking read that eloquently sets an agenda, justifies it and demands that action is taken. Read it, think again, and make change your goal.”

Read the full review here.

Details here.