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Sharp, funny, and poignant stories of what it’s like to be a Brown woman working for change in a white world.
I take a deep breath, check my lipstick one last time on my phone camera, and turn on my mic. It’s about ten steps, two metres, and one lifetime to the front of the room. “Hello,” I repeat. “My name is Annahid — pronounced Ah-nah-heed — and shit’s about to get real!”
In a series of deft interlocking stories, Annahid Dashtgard shares her experiences searching for, and teaching about, belonging in our deeply divided world. A critically acclaimed, racialized immigrant writer and recognized inclusion leader, Dashtgard writes with wisdom, honesty, and a wry humour as she considers what it means to belong — to a country, in a marriage, in our own skin — and what it means when belonging is absent. Like the bones of the human body, these stories knit together a remarkable vision of what wholeness looks like as a racial outsider in a culture still dominated by whiteness.
As a fellow storyteller, I understand the power of story and how it can bring people together. Annahid’s stories tackle racism and inequality with humour and hope in easily digestible chapters. This book is a must-read for people trying to engage in authentic dialogue and action.
We need more women of colour to speak bravely about how to take our power back. This book of stories is a roadmap for everything from healing our bodies to using our voices in the boardroom. It will inspire all who read it to move into action.
In these vulnerable essays, Annahid Dashtgard gets real about her experiences of exile, teaching equity, parenting and relationships as a mixed-race woman in a context of white supremacy. I related to so many of the stories, nodding along, marking up pages and finding relief in her magic of meaning-making. This is a true gift to the world, a moving meditation on how we can create belonging within ourselves and our communities.
In her new book, Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World, Dashtgard uses the power of story to address issues of equity, inclusion and belonging. Her essays convey personal glimpses, expressed with eloquence and humour, into her unique perspective of facing a world that needs to evolve from its current state of divisiveness and entrenched racism into a more open-minded and equitable place. Annahid’s personal, passionate, and intelligent exploration of the world that she has had to navigate provides a road map that helps us all to increase our awareness and commit to doing our part in order to make our respective communities a better place to live and work.
Annahid is a stunning writer, daring to speak truths that are often hidden or marginalized, and in the process opening people’s hearts and minds.
These stories are an essential roadmap toward our human interdependence and how we ultimately belong to each other. Through her wonderful writing, Annahid is making the difference we need in the world.
Annahid Dashtgard has a brave and beautiful story to tell, and she tells it with honesty and elegance in a book that’s as readable as it is important. I found my own hope renewed as I read this book.
The stories in this volume speak to interdependence, belonging and empowerment with humor, vulnerability and generosity.
Original, eloquent, inherently interesting, thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Contents
1 Silver Birch 3
Dear Canada 14
Raft 17
Names 20
Oxygen 23
2 Lion’s Den 25
Dear Dad 42
Witness 45
Purpose 46
Racism 47
3 Bad Immigrant 49
Ghosts 62
Aunties 64
Roses 67
4 Dusty Road 69
Halos 83
Bloom 85
Skates 87
5 Sky Dancing 91
Transplant 101
Threads 102
Sholeh Zard 104
6 Rebel Body 107
Beauty 120
Touch 123
Grown-up 125
7 Foreign Object 127
Courage 139
Trickster 141
Rescue 143
Kintsugi 145
8 Racial Imposter 147
Gaps 158
Language 160
Pearls 162
9 Boss Lady 163
Strength 175
Power 176
Welcome 178
Soothe 180
10 Ocean Intelligence 183
Epilogue 195
Acknowledgements 197
About the Author 199