Hey I’m back in town!

Posted bywendywilsonfallPosted inreading and writing, UncategorizedTags:, , , , ,

Hi everyone. Sorry to have been away for so long.. I have been working on a new writing project and frankly every time I wanted to write anything other than for the project I was beset by waves of guilt. So, now at least I have a full draft and I’m starting 2025 with a new determination and, yes, optimism!

So, I want to extend my good wishes to you all for the new year and to encourage everyone to stay positive. Change is scary but change is also opportunity! Opportunity can be within yourself, or external. With optimism I’m sure you will access both.

This year there are alot of books I've read and really enjoyed. The one I've picture here is one of them, but I also want to point out "The Minotaur at Calle Lanza" by Zito Madu, "The Message" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, "Riwan" by Ken Bugul and "The Silence of the Choir" by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr." Great books to keep me thinking! I highly suggest a read!

This year there are a lot of books I’ve read and really enjoyed. The one I’ve pictured here is one of them, but I also want to point out “The Minotaur at Calle Lanza” by Zito Madu, “The Message” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Riwan” by Ken Bugul (in French) and “The Silence of the Choir” by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. All are wonderful and illuminating. Great books to keep me thinking! I highly suggest a read! The Books of Jacob is an amazing labyrinth of a story that takes place in mid-19th century Poland and in a magical realism kind of way tells the story of a Jewish community there. In keeping with the labyrinth theme, the Minotaur at Calle Lanza is a fantastic story of self-regeneration that involves a Nigerian-American from Detroit and the city of Venice. Bugul and Sarr are from Senegal. “The Message” is an exploration about land, home, and competing histories, among other things – addressing Blackness and our own problems of, and readings of, home and history. Treat yourself well and do some reading to compliment your internet browsing, if nothing else. I am purposefully keeping my book reading going as a discipline against being unable to read a book at all, due to excessive screen time. It’s real.

Otherwise, I’m working on being more regular with meditation and exercise. I am enjoying cooking and I’m enjoying my students at the private liberal arts college where I teach.

What does any of this have to do with being Black in the African Diaspora? First, all of these books have important ideas about marginality, dreaming for a better world, and internal struggles we all have with ourselves. Second, my writing project (reveal!) is a memoir with social commentary on the African American elites of the 20th century who were clustered around Howard University. More coming on that!

Published by wendywilsonfall

Wendy Wilson Fall is Professor and Program Chair of the Africana Studies Program at Lafayette College. Her research engages questions of socio-cultural change, ethnic identity, and multi-sited historical narratives. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters addressing these themes in the context of nomads in West Africa and in research on the African diaspora of the U.S. Wilson-Fall is from Washington, D.C. and has traveled extensively in Africa, particularly in West Africa where she lived for more than ten years. She's also traveled to Madagascar, Egypt and Morocco as well as in Europe.

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