I Talk About It All Time time is a testimony, an appeal, and a self-examination. Camara Lundestad Joof was born in Norway to a Norwegian mother and a Gambian father. The book depicts how the racism she constantly experiences infects her days and controls her thoughts.
In this biting, lyrical memoir, the author shares her experiences as a queer Black Norwegian woman. Joof’s daily encounters belie the myth of a colorblind contemporary Scandinavia. She wrestles with the fickle palimpsest of memory, demanding communion with her readers even as she recognizes her own exhaustion in the face of constantly being asked to educate others.
The book is now in it’s fifth print run.
Candid, insightful, hard-hitting testimony against the myth of racial colorblindness.
Kirkus Reviews
[Joof’s] collection of fragmented anecdotes is radical, candid, and unapologetic, documenting with introspection the experience of being Black in a white society in which macro- and microaggressions are ubiquitous. . . . Sharp, complex, and lingering, the memoir I Talk about It All the Time places its masterful compilation of devastating truths in the context of Scandinavian racism
Foreword Reviews
[A] sharp, one-of-a-kind memoir. . . . [Joof’s] reflections on colorblind racism, the systemic unbelonging of people of color and the labor they must perform to dismantle it are keen, caustic and right on time.
Ms. Magazine
Impressively, she brings out the complexity and nuances in her experiences. Strongest impression is probably the text about an elderly woman who hit her when she, as a child, wore a traditional national costume on Norway’s Constitution Day. Joof handles this sore memory with a steady hand and puts the limelight on the woman’s silent girlfriend. She neither intervened nor protested. Expressed and visible racism is easy to be against, instead Joof often focuses on the small comments, the neglect and the silence. It’s a very strong read and an impressive debut!
Dagbladet
A stunning memoir told in illuminating fragments. Joof’s devastating narrative captures what it costs to navigate spaces where you are constantly treated as if you do not belong.”
Ethelene Whitmire, author of Regina Anderson Andrews, Harlem Renaissance Librarian
I talk about it all the time speaks straight to my heart. It tears and shudders my skin and stirs my emotions.
VOKS Magazine
This gemlike book relentlessly dramatizes the particularities of Norwegian racism. The power of Joof’s observations increases in proportion to their understated precision. Her gentle voice is wholly deceptive. She slices through the delusions, denials, and defensiveness that distinguish the unthinkable racism of Scandinavian society.
Paul Gilroy, author of The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness
Beautifully, immersively written, these everyday and reflective snapshots from the life of a Black, queer Norwegian woman are searing, insightful, and so recognizable for other women in the Black European diaspora.
Gloria Wekker, author of White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race
