Sunshine Jones answers “About the title of this book: The...”

Arlakan asked this question about Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts, #1):

About the title of this book: The definition of Akata and how offensive it could be. Essentially it could be similar to having students in Nigeria reading a book titled “(The N Word) Witch”. Now not all dialects/translations carry that negative of a connotation, but if you do a quick google search the comparison of the word Akata to the N word is pretty frequent. Thoughts????

Sunshine Jones I think this is a clear case of why it's so important to read beyond a book's title page. Despite the racial slur in its title, I was required to read…moreI think this is a clear case of why it's so important to read beyond a book's title page. Despite the racial slur in its title, I was required to read Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane in high school. I assume the book was selected because whoever designed the curriculum could recognize that the author's intent was not to offend, but rather to honestly depict his experience. In the case of Akata Witch, it is clear from my reading that the author's intent was not to offend Black Americans but rather to honestly portray the difficulty of fitting neatly into poorly demarcated racial/national hierarchies.

But I also think we have no business trying to determine what could or couldn't possibly be offensive to others - that should be up to the reader and if it offends them they are welcome to stop reading. (less)

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