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moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.75
The Groundings With My Brothers by Walter Rodney is a classic work about Black power, education, and the necessity of community in both. Rodney goes in detail about what Black power means, defying popular watered down notions and reveiling a revolutionary unifying understanding of what Black Power is. He discusses this in the context of Jamaca, having lived there and taught with and learned from the Rastafarian people. With this context, we learn about the racism of the Jamacan government (even post-Independence) and how African history is tied to the region.
Not only is this useful historical context and breakdown of white supremacy in the Caribbean and global context, but this is an important work pedagogically. Education and power comes from sharing within a community, understanding your power as a collective. It's about defying the academic norm of isolation from (being above) the common person and about connecting scholarship and activism in the communities most impacted by the issues.
In this edition, the original work is framed by an introduction and essays about the work that come together to show the importance of this work both historically and how it continues to be relevant. I really enjoyed these essays and thought they added a lot as well. Parts of this a little difficult to fully grasp without some context, but these essays help with that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
colin_cox's review against another edition
5.0
The Groundings with My Brothers is a provocative text that situates the struggle for Black or Pan-African liberation in the hands of the people, which is to say, those on the "ground." In a supplemental essay included after Rodney's text, David Austin argues, "as important as it was for us to acquire knowledge of our African past, this was no substitute for being grounded in the more particular experiences and histories that have shaped us in the Americans" (96). Here, Austin articulates Rodney's sustained emphasis on the people and their unique, individual experiences in contrast to particular African histories that live in the halls of academia. This is not to suggest that Rodney rejects the sorts of African histories housed in libraries, quite the opposite, in fact. Rodney's point, however, endeavors to disrupt the stratification of knowledge and knowledge production that exists in many societies by suggesting that the people, too, have the power, right, and privilege to make history. Rodney clarifies this point in Chapter 6 when he writes, "Now, what is my position? What is the position of all of us because we fall in the category of the black West Indian intellectual, a privilege in our society? What do we do with that privilege? The traditional pattern is that we join the establishment; the black educated man in the West Indies is as much a part of the system of oppression as the bank managers and the plantation overseers...How do we break out of this Babylonian captivity?" (66). Rodney sustains this critique throughout The Groundings with My Brothers. This is a distinctly anti-capitalist critique that sees the intersection between race, class, and wealth accumulation as the larger battle worth fighting.
Rodney's perspective on "grounding" is a necessarily humbling but, more importantly, egalitarian experience. He writes, "I was prepared to go anywhere that any group of black people were prepared to sit down to talk and listen. Because that is Black Power, that is one of the elements, a sitting-down together to reason, to 'ground' as the brothers say. We have to 'ground together'" (67). Rodney's perspective on disrupting the social, cultural, and political gap that exists between a people's intelligentsia and its workers is one that shifts the bounds of power in a culture. That is to say, we cannot expect to create an egalitarian world if figures of exception exist. Hierarchical formulations, even ones with the best intentions, produce the kind of stratification that Rodney argues against in The Groundings with My Brothers, and he is far from subtle on this point: "Black bourgeoisie and white people in the West Indies have produced nothing! Black people who have suffered all these years create. That is amazing" (73).
Rodney also explores terms and concepts that are new to me but help me better understand certain contemporary phenomena. For example, his widow, Patricia Rodney, writes, "With Walter as my guide, I learned firsthand of the extreme socioeconomic disparities in Jamaica. Like many other former colonies, class and skin colour/tone played a significant role in the distribution of wealth and resources -- a phenomenon referred to by the late Professor Stuart Hall as 'pigmentocracy'" (80). The term "pigmentocracy" labels a disparity I have attempted, to varying degrees of success, to describe to my student when we, for example, discuss the characterization of complexion in the texts I ask them to read.
The Groundings with My Brothers is a short but necessary text for anyone interested in exploring race criticism from a distinctly international, non-American perspective.
Rodney's perspective on "grounding" is a necessarily humbling but, more importantly, egalitarian experience. He writes, "I was prepared to go anywhere that any group of black people were prepared to sit down to talk and listen. Because that is Black Power, that is one of the elements, a sitting-down together to reason, to 'ground' as the brothers say. We have to 'ground together'" (67). Rodney's perspective on disrupting the social, cultural, and political gap that exists between a people's intelligentsia and its workers is one that shifts the bounds of power in a culture. That is to say, we cannot expect to create an egalitarian world if figures of exception exist. Hierarchical formulations, even ones with the best intentions, produce the kind of stratification that Rodney argues against in The Groundings with My Brothers, and he is far from subtle on this point: "Black bourgeoisie and white people in the West Indies have produced nothing! Black people who have suffered all these years create. That is amazing" (73).
Rodney also explores terms and concepts that are new to me but help me better understand certain contemporary phenomena. For example, his widow, Patricia Rodney, writes, "With Walter as my guide, I learned firsthand of the extreme socioeconomic disparities in Jamaica. Like many other former colonies, class and skin colour/tone played a significant role in the distribution of wealth and resources -- a phenomenon referred to by the late Professor Stuart Hall as 'pigmentocracy'" (80). The term "pigmentocracy" labels a disparity I have attempted, to varying degrees of success, to describe to my student when we, for example, discuss the characterization of complexion in the texts I ask them to read.
The Groundings with My Brothers is a short but necessary text for anyone interested in exploring race criticism from a distinctly international, non-American perspective.
sloopaslowlyreads's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
rodney really has an undeniable love and interest in the masses, as he says “every human being is a human being”
doomfelter's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This man is seriously overlooked in the Black Power movement. These works should take center stage along with the BPP, Kwame Ture, and a host of other voices. Just great stuff.