‘An excelent book.’ (Alaa Al Aswany)

‘(…) an innovative and important intervention’ (Paul Gilroy)

‘I was especially happy to meet fascinating writers like Nancy Huston, Amitav Ghosh and Nuruddin Farah and to discover new ones like Grada Kilomba.’ (Maryse Condé)

“She gave me words where I had none before.” Kilomba expresses what it is like to live in the body of someone perpetually seen as “other” (…), but does so with the force of someone who had thought through all the power relations. (…) The performance was breathtaking, quite literally. The audience reaction, and my own, reminded me of the reaction people had to _For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf_, a book that blew me away when I was a girl. Plantation Memories is a powerful, moving, and deeply personal(ized) global story/history of racialization.” (American Amazon Review)

“Die ganze Zeit beim Lesen des Buches überlege ich, wem ich es noch alles Schenken kann, die es durstig brauchen und zu schätzen wissen, all denen zuerst und dann den vielen anderen, die es kennen lernen und daraus lernen können und wollen würden. (…) Das Buch ist ein sehr gelungenes Werk, ich kann gar nicht mehr aufhören zu lesen und zu lernen, und es ist für mich bereits jetzt neben Fanons Schwarze Haut, Weiße Masken und Saids Orientalism und noch viel mehr eigentlich.” (German Amazon Review)

“‘Plantation Memories’ is a fervent, strong, and elaborated piece, which deconstructs the normality of everyday racism. From the question “Where do you come from?” to “How do you wash your hair?”, to the use of the N-word, the author exposes the violence of always being placed as the Other. The book is essential to anyone interested in Black studies, Post-colonial studies, Critical Whiteness, Gender studies and Psychoanalysis.” (Unrast Verlag)

“Plantation Memories” is a compilation of episodes of everyday racism written in the form of short psychoanalytical stories. In her book, Grada Kilomba combines both academic writing and lyrical narrative creating a strong new literary style. Released at the International Literature Festival, at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, by the end of 2008, soon the book became internationally acclaimed. A significant number of academic thesis and artistic projects have been using the book as a main tool to explore the ‘post-colonial condition.’

Cover Design: Dawit Habtu

You can order this book at any bookstore or online.

Paperback: October 2008 / price: 16€ / ISBN 978-3-89771-485-4