‘…, I must talk about my body as black, and my body as male, and my body as queer. I must talk about how our bodies can variously assume privilege or victimhood from their conflicting identities’.[1] ‘It is 2004. Terrifying stories have been leaking out about the violent homophobia on the island. … In 2006 it will culminate in an article in Time magazine declaring Jamaica ‘The Most Homophobic Place on Earth’. … // This is a truth – a difficult and complicated truth: the place where I have always felt most comfortably gay is in Jamaica. In Jamaica, I know the language and the Mannerisms of queerness. … In Britain, my black body often hides the truth of my queerness’.[2] What truths does my body withhold? Reflecting on Kei Miller’s (2021) Things I Have Withheld: Essays, Edinburgh, Canongate Books Ltd.
View original post 3,022 more words
Steve_Bamlett_blog 
One thought on “Edinburgh Book Festival reissue: ‘…, I must talk about my body as black, and my body as male, and my body as queer. I must talk about how our bodies can variously assume privilege or victimhood from their conflicting identities’. What truths does my body withhold? Reflecting on Kei Miller’s (2021) ‘Things I Have Withheld: Essays’.”