GSLIS 739: Children of Blood and Bone: Social and Media Connections

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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In Children of Blood and Bone, Adeyemi creates a powerful metaphor for the insidious and destructive power of racism and the way that it divides a nation. Using the familiar fantasy novel formula of hero(ine) on a quest to overthrow evil, Adeyemi creates that evil from the fear that turns to the oppression of a people. Unwilling to shy away from the violence that results, Adeyemi shows the maji enslaved, tortured, and beaten down in ways which are familiar to students of American history – after all, this is how America has treated Black Americans.

Resources that you might find useful for understanding the context of this book:

https://blacklivesmatter.com/ – The resources page is particularly interesting to look at to see the ways that we can fight racism in our own lives

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14976/14976-h/14976-h.htm – Ida B. Well’s description of the New Orleans mobs will feel eerily similar to certain parts of Children of Blood and Bone – particularly the scenes about the killing of the maji.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/tomi-adeyemi-children-of-blood-bone – In this interview, Adeyemi talks about her motivation for writing Children of Blood and Bone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/fashion/afrofuturism-the-next-generation.html – Learn about Afrofuturism, “a social, political and cultural genre that projects black space voyagers, warriors and their heroic like into a fantasy landscape, one that has long been the province of their mostly white counterparts.”

http://review.gawker.com/the-law-of-remembrance-what-octavia-butler-taught-me-1685340561 – More on Afrofuturism, and influential author Octavia Butler

And of course,

https://www.theroot.com/sayhername-florida-police-viciously-beat-14-year-old-1829894526

all

http://feministing.com/2018/09/12/why-do-the-cops-keep-protecting-white-supremacists/

about

https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/arrested-walking-while-trans-interview-monica-jones

racial profiling

https://www.facebook.com/charlotteuprising/posts/1894164940879925

and

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/?noredirect=on

police brutality