Non Binary approaches to Mixed Race Heritage
and choosing not to be an influencer; a new podcast episode
As readers will know, my second novel GOLDEN BOY was touted as a “radical non-binary approach to intersex” (Autostraddle). Non-binary approaches to gender and sexuality have always spoken to me, so I was honoured to interview Jassa Ahluwalia, who applies non-binary thinking to mixed ethnicity heritage in his new memoir-come-philosophy book, BOTH NOT HALF.
We spoke about how mixed people (“where the fiction of race becomes visible”) were perceived in the past (“Race is an idea invented at a time when human equality was being pioneered” to create “a hierarchy of humanity” that permitted people who believed in equality to take part in slavery), which Jassa goes into at more length in his book; left-wing nationalism and the politics of citizenship ; non-binary approaches to class (“Racism is an expression of class inequality”), and more.
I truly recommend the book, particularly if you’re raising children who have mixed ethnicity or struggling with your own mixed heritage—even as a Irish British person living in the U.K., I found things to identify with and ideas that were new to me and made me think.
What stuck out to me, too, was Jassa’s voice in the narrative, and his courage in allowing us to see him at the beginning of his journey and at points in it when he struggled to find his way. Weaving together history, politics, cultural commentary, and personal experience, I feel like BOTH NOT HALF represents a new genre of writing, where a non-fiction narrator remains human, fallible, and present, while educating their reader.
Whenever I meet people like Jassa, I think how glad I am that they are out there, in the world around me, doing their work. I love that he had two paths he could possibly have taken—comedy influencer v. writer/activist/actor. On the pod, he tells us he took the latter, the less social media-hustle-y but perhaps more exhausting route (and still, I’m certain, involving lots of hustle) that hugged more tightly to his principles and authenticity. He’s so thoughtful (about, amongst many things, his own privilege, which is a powerful admission also in his book), so fun, so nerdy, and also such a change maker; a union activist for Equity, an excellent speaker, and an advocate for deconstructing socio-cultural narratives to write new stories about “race”, mixed heritage, class, nationalism, and what makes us British.
Watch our interview here, in Episode 3 of the Republic podcast:
Or, listen on Apple.
Or, on Spotify.
Coming up on FROM BELOW THE BALCONY, Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy wants Universal Basic Income and, in our next episode, Kelechi Okafor and I discuss why Prince Andrew would totally have been in the cult in her new novel Awakening, and racist media coverage of Meghan Markle.
P.S. Currently imbibing:
Since I finished my novel edit (yes!!! I finished!!!), Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley, which is such a pleasure read and I am loving, but also,
Mark Haddon’s Dogs & Monsters for our next podcast interview (Mark is also author of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime),
just turned onto Gary Stevenson’s economics YouTube channel, and enjoyed his tariffs rundown and his Why Growth Is Stupid,
and Nettle tea and Floradix of a morning, again, for the iron content. Speaking of iron… here’s a special extract from my new novel, just for Substack subscribers.
And if you’re not one, hit the button below:
