Mixing poetry, transcripts of spoken stories, and first-person narrative, Rajiv Mohabir first probes and later peels away the multiple layers of racism, colonialism, xenophobia, and queer hatred that have long kept him from knowing the truth of his identity. Mohabir grew up in Florida with a homophobic father who’s worked hard to assimilate into whiteness. Mohabir’s grandparents, however, were indentured laborers sent from India to Guyana in the 1920s—in fact, the word antiman is a Caribbean slur for “faggot.” Antiman follows Mohabir’s reclaiming of Guyanese Bhojpuri, the dying language of his paternal grandmother, his beloved Aji. Through language, Mohabir discovers that embracing his identity as a queer outcast—an antiman—gives him power and purpose, a deep connection to his Indian ancestors. “I was born to be cast out,” Mohabir writes, “turned away into the night.”
Antiman: A Hybrid Memoir, by Rajiv Mohabir. Published by Restless Books. The editor is Nathan Rostron. Antiman is a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction; the winner will be announced on May 11.