How to Say Babylon
A Memoir
by Safiya Sinclair
Published by: 37 Ink, October 3, 2023
Genre: Nonfiction | Biography & Memoir
Page Count: 352 (Hardcover)
Audiobook Length: 16 hours and 48 minutes
Audiobook Narrator: Safiya Sinclair
ISBN: 9781982132330
Publisher’s Description
With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.
Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.
In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya’s mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya’s voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them.
How to Say Babylon is Sinclair’s reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.
About the Author
Safiya Sinclair is a Jamaican poet and writer known for her acclaimed work in contemporary poetry. She was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and later moved to the United States. Sinclair’s poetry often explores themes of identity, heritage, race, and the complexities of personal and cultural history.
Her debut poetry collection, “Cannibal,” was published in 2016 and received significant praise for its powerful and evocative verses. “Cannibal” delves into the legacies of colonialism and slavery, offering a rich exploration of the Jamaican landscape and the complexities of diasporic identity.
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