Jeffrey Boakye

England

Father. Writer. Educator. MUSICAL WORLD; I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID; MUSICAL TRUTH; BLACK, LISTED; HOLD TIGHT; KOFI series; Add To Playlist. Rep @sarahsuch.

Articles

If you only read one book this year … make it this one!

Mar 6, 2025 | msn.com | Lisa Allardice |William Boyd |Abir Mukherjee |Sara Collins |Ben Johns |Justine Jordan | +4 more

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If you only read one book this year … make it this one!

Mar 6, 2025 | theguardian.com | Lisa Allardice |William Boyd |Sara Collins |Justine Jordan |Nikesh Shukla |Jeffrey Boakye

According to new data from YouGov, 40% of British adults have not read a single book in the last year, with the median Briton having read or listened to three. In a world where there are so many other distractions and forms of entertainment to choose from, fewer and fewer people are getting stuck into books – yet lots of us would like to be reading more. So we asked authors, booksellers and critics to choose the book they think you should read this year – even if you only read one.
Understanding whiteness part 23: Don't trust white history

Jan 18, 2024 | jeffreyboakye.substack.com | Jeffrey Boakye

That is not a typo. Part 23. Twenty-three! And still going... It turns out that understanding whiteness is a bigger task than I might have imagined. Listen, if you're new to this Substack, welcome. You've missed a bit, but this post will still be fully accessible, I promise you. I’ve made it free to read in full because it shapes some of the most vital and important ideas I have committed to the page. So read carefully, with an open heart and curious mind.
A letter to... white teachers

Jan 10, 2024 | teachwire.net | Simon Hunt |Lucy Starbuck Braidley |Robert Tregoning |Jeffrey Boakye

Primary Do all your colleagues feel accepted and equal at school? Take a little time to give it some thought… by When I started teacher training back in 2007, I was the only black student on my course. Armed with a tweed blazer, leather satchel and head full of bright ideas, I wasn’t going to let my minority status get in the way of making a difference – it was going to be just like the recruitment campaigns said it would be.
Musical World

Oct 29, 2023 | justimagine.co.uk | Jeffrey Boakye

While using The Spice Girl’s ‘Wannabe’ as a doorway into a brief history of feminism, Boakye says,‘In a way, I’m breaking the rules of enjoying popular music by writing a book like this. I’m not sure if pop songs are meant to be analysed and turned into clever sounding essays’.
If you think we don't need Black History Month, you aren't paying attention

Oct 27, 2023 | standard.co.uk | Jeffrey Boakye

It’s an easy mistake to make: To see "Black History Month" (BHM) and think it’s a time to shine a light on a history that has been pushed into the margins of mainstream thought. In fact, that’s a pretty good summary of what the month sets out to do, hence why BHM enters the calendar with a sense of occasion and celebration. A fanfare, perhaps, for blackness that has been ignored, all year, so far. But this comes with problems, or at least, specifics that need to be defined.
Understanding whiteness Part 12: Defeating monsters, 'post-Floyd', and lessons from Karate Kid

Sep 9, 2023 | jeffreyboakye.substack.com | Jeffrey Boakye

Often, the monster in a story is mysterious, shadowy and hard to define, but once seen, displays itself in terrifying extroversion. In fact, the etymology of the word ‘monster’ takes us back to the Latin ‘monstrare’, meaning ‘to demonstrate’. Literally, a monster is a force that demonstrates its power and strength, or, as I’ve heard it described: to ‘show out’. Racism is a lot like this. It’s an invisible force, like gravity, permeating all societal structures.
Understanding whiteness Part 11: Grand delusions

Aug 31, 2023 | shorturl.at | Jeffrey Boakye

So.When I said in the previous post that dominant whiteness is a ‘pitiful victim’ I wasn’t just being glib. Read this next bit carefully: In positioning whiteness at the very top of a hierarchy that stands on the broken bones of non-whiteness, white supremacy attempted to strip white people of basic humanity. This is truly awful. It’s akin to teaching a baby to be a cannibal, or surgically removing someone’s conscience from their brain. It’s abhorrent.
Understanding whiteness Part 7: Masculinity, gendered racism, 'Karens', and villains

Jul 25, 2023 | jeffreyboakye.substack.com | Jeffrey Boakye

Ok, question: Does whiteness have a gender? Obviously, logically, the answer has to be ‘no’. But how we feel about racism is not always all that logical. I’ll admit it openly. When I stop to think of dominant whiteness, as a person, as a character, I often picture a man. To be specific, I picture a youngish middle aged man, with unremarkable features but not ugly, standing assertively but with troubles lurking behind the eyes, if you look hard enough. I picture Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders.
Never Have I Ever, Geriatric Millennials, old rules, new leaders, and skinny jeans

Jul 8, 2023 | jeffreyboakye.substack.com | Jeffrey Boakye