Insurrection
A Family History of Barbados
Peter Brathwaite(Author)
Chatto & Windus (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 4. March 2027
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-78474-554-7 (ISBN)
Description
From his Windrush generation mum to his enslaved and enslaver ancestors, Peter Brathwaite tells an unexpected family history of Barbados that swells with sadness, rings with laughter and rises in song
When Peter's mum, a retired NHS nurse of the Windrush generation, gives him his grandpap's cou-cou stick (for making Barbadian cornmeal), Peter's investigation into his heritage begins. He finds that not only is he descended from eighteenth-century sugar-plantation owner John Brathwaite, but that members of his family also include Ann (an enslaved mistress of an enslaver ancestor) and Margaret and her husband Addo, who became free and landowning people of colour following the great insurrection of 1816. Margaret also went on to found the Brathwaite family festival, still celebrated today.
Peter's troubling discoveries in the archives of his white forebears intermingle with this counter-archive of Black life - from the rebel sounds of Bajan folk songs to modern-day WhatsApps - to give voice to a wide diasporic community, then and now. Throughout, Peter channels the mischief of the island spirit Shaggy Bear (even donning his colourful costume at one point) as he seeks to embody the joys and complexities of an island's violent history. Taking the Brathwaite family tag and reclaiming it for all the family, Not All of Me Will Die is an emotional reckoning with a legacy of oppression which generously opens the door to a richer understanding of colonial experience and our shared history.
When Peter's mum, a retired NHS nurse of the Windrush generation, gives him his grandpap's cou-cou stick (for making Barbadian cornmeal), Peter's investigation into his heritage begins. He finds that not only is he descended from eighteenth-century sugar-plantation owner John Brathwaite, but that members of his family also include Ann (an enslaved mistress of an enslaver ancestor) and Margaret and her husband Addo, who became free and landowning people of colour following the great insurrection of 1816. Margaret also went on to found the Brathwaite family festival, still celebrated today.
Peter's troubling discoveries in the archives of his white forebears intermingle with this counter-archive of Black life - from the rebel sounds of Bajan folk songs to modern-day WhatsApps - to give voice to a wide diasporic community, then and now. Throughout, Peter channels the mischief of the island spirit Shaggy Bear (even donning his colourful costume at one point) as he seeks to embody the joys and complexities of an island's violent history. Taking the Brathwaite family tag and reclaiming it for all the family, Not All of Me Will Die is an emotional reckoning with a legacy of oppression which generously opens the door to a richer understanding of colonial experience and our shared history.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
575 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78474-554-7 (9781784745547)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
approx. 03/2027
Vintage Digital
€14.99
Not yet available
Person
Peter Brathwaite is an acclaimed baritone, whose recent performances include two wold premieres: The Time of Our Singing (La Monnaie, Brussels), and Festen (Royal Opera, Covent Garden). He is also a visual artist. His first book Rediscovering Black Portraiture (Getty, 2023) recreated portraits of Black men and women as part of the Getty Museum art challenge. A solo exhibition of his work was shown at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in 2023. He was a resident Distinguished Visitor at the Queen's College, Oxford, during his research for Not All of Me Will Die, and a recipient of the Eccles Institute and Hay Festival Global Writers Award 2024.