Black, Listed cover art

Black, Listed

Black British Culture Explored

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Black, Listed

By: Jeffrey Boakye
Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Guardian Must Read Books of 2019.

Financial Times Books to Read 2019.

New Statesman Must Reads 2019.

Who is a roadman really? What's wrong with calling someone a 'lighty'? Why do people think black guys are cool?

These are just some of the questions being wrestled with in Black, Listed, an exploration of 21st century black identity told through a list of insults, insights and everything in between.

Taking a panoramic look at global black history, interrogating both contemporary and historical culture, Black, Listed investigates the ways in which black communities (and individuals) have been represented, oppressed, mimicked, celebrated and othered. Part historical study, part autobiographical musing, part pop culture vivisection, it's a comprehensive attempt to make sense of blackness from the vantage point of the hilarious and insightful psyche of Jeffrey Boakye.

Along the way, it explores a far reaching range of social and cultural contexts, including but not limited to, sport, art, entertainment, politics, literature, history, music, theatre, cinema, education and criminal justice, sometimes at the same time.

©2019 Jeffrey Boakye (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK
Education & Learning Social Sciences Funny Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Black British Lives Matter cover art
I Heard What You Said cover art
Afropean cover art
The Windrush Betrayal cover art
Think Like a White Man cover art
A Purposeful Life cover art
Articulate While Black cover art
Brit(ish) cover art
Assata cover art
In Denial cover art
The Islamic Republic of Australia cover art
How I Resist cover art
Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching cover art
Uncommon Wealth cover art
The Madness of Crowds cover art
The Good Ally cover art

Critic reviews

Intense and compelling from the very beginning, Jeffrey Boakye bravely explores the ways in which people with darker skin are located in language . . . This book gives a voice to those whose experience is persistently defined, refined and denied by others. Boakye shows how language does not always have to be insulting, offensive or loaded, it can also be incredibly emancipatory, particularly when the black community takes ownership of the terms of prose . . . If blackness is a maze, then we must be the ones who design it. With architects like Jeffrey Boakye, I'm optimistic we can build ourselves an authentic future (David Lammy)
A truly radical book, which manages to be unflinching and constantly entertaining
(CAROLINE SANDERSON)
Wit abounds in Jeffrey Boakye's insightful Black, Listed, a kind of periodic table of 60 words and phrases used down the ages to describe black people (Colin Grant)
Boakye aims to challenge, complicate and undo assumptions about what blackness means, often taking surprising routes . . . Black, Listed covers some terrain similar to that of recent books such as Akala's blistering Natives and Reni Eddo Logdge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, and while Boakye may share those authors' political intent, his humour sets him apart. He is a winningly funny "tour guide". . . The unpredictable range of his references is exciting . . . As he argues against the endlessly problematic ways in which blackness has been categorized and codified, taking on the "biggest and the blackest of the big black stereotypes", the text bobs, weaves and wanders - always one thrilling step ahead (Michael Donkor)

What listeners say about Black, Listed

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    93
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    82
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    80
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

5 Stars on Every Level

Can’t say enough good things about this book - best I’ve read in 2024. Excellent in content, writing style & narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it.

Highly recommend this book.
I loved this book. Interesting and insightful.
Read abd educate yourselves people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

Interesting, considered, really listenable (Ben Onwukwe has the BEST voice), warm and humorous. Really enjoyed it. It felt somehow both comprehensive and concise. The use of pop culture and Boakye's personal life to explain certain things gives it so much more personality and value

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative, funny and had me nodding

Ainsley Harriet will never be the same to me after his appearance in this book. Extremely informative even if a little London centric drawing on the author's experiences.

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to understand #Black without being bogged down. The reader is great and content even better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A MUST-READ!

I am so thankful for this book, it is a must-read for everyone, I highly recommend it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interested in a UK perspective? Get this then!

Just brilliant! Laughed, cried, got angry, got happy. Great narration and a real...ear turner? May have to go back to a few sections and listen again, just to enjoy. The ending was perfect and says exactly what it should about the current state we have reached. A must read/listen for everyone who wants to know.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative with a playful twist

I found this book very relatable growing up as a black guy living in London.

I found it funny in parts and hard hitting in others making me understand some of my own thoughts and feelings growing into a man.

Great book would listen to it again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A listening must!

A well written read. A lot of points covered with humour which is hard with some tricky topics. I really enjoyed it. Go listen. Go read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!