The Good Immigrant: 21 writers reflect on race in contemporary Britain
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By Nikesh Shukla
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First published in 2016, The Good Immigrant has since been hailed as a modern classic and credited with reshaping the discussion about race in contemporary Britain. It brings together a stellar cast of the country’s most exciting voices to reflect on why immigrants come to the UK, why they stay and what it means to be ‘other’ in a place that doesn’t seem to want you, doesn’t truly accept you – however many generations you’ve been here – but still needs you for its diversity monitoring forms.
This 5th anniversary edition, featuring a new preface by editor Nikesh Shukla, shows that the pieces collected here are as poignant, challenging, angry, humorous, heartbreaking and important as ever.
Reviews
I liked this compilation a lot. As expected, some stories gripped me more than others, but most of them I liked. I was shocked about the lack of role models for ethnic minority children ('You can't say that'), the perception of female Asian women being hypersexualised ('Yellow') and a white wrestler pretending to be Japanese ('Kendo Nagasaki and Me'). I enjoyed the story of a person of Indian heritage 'going home' on a trip to India ('On Going Home'). I did not realise that the British Empire had perpetuated casteism and had to laugh about Nish Kumar's story about being a 'confused Muslim', and well done to him for making a show out of it. In itself, the issue is obviously not funny. My favourite stories were the ones later in the book, though, in particular 'Shade' and 'The Wife of a Terrorist'. 'Shade' describes the endless struggles of being 'other'. 'The Wife of a Terrorist' tells the story of an actress. It's rather limiting if students who have completed drama school are pidgeonholed in the first place, as it shows the quality of an actor if they are able to play different roles. But 'The Wife of a Terrorist'? What kind of clichés are being projected onto actors (and people in general) of different ethnic backgrounds? It's scandalous really. In spite of all the accounts of racism and prejudice in the book an enjoyable read.
