This week’s Book on the Bird Table is Outsiders: The Outdoors is Yours, the debut book from Nadeem Perera and Ollie Olanipekun of Flock Together – the UK’s first birdwatching collective for people of colour.
Part memoir, part manifesto, Outsiders is Flock Together’s call-to-action. It encourages us to understand that we are all part of nature and that it is a part of us, and to use this connection to move our world to a more humanising one, where we value wildlife as an important leveller and proponent for change.
Divided into six parts, and featuring illustrations and artwork by Olivia Twist and Kyra Thompson, each chapter focuses on a key pillar in the Flock’s mission:
1. Make Nature a Must explores the contrast between urban and rural lifestyles. How does the urban environment disconnect the individual from nature? How is nature beneficial to us all?
2. Challenging Preconceptions shows the complexities people of colour face when they are stereotyped. How can we change these preconceptions?
3. Nature as My Healer assesses the systemic issues impacting the mental health of people of colour. How can nature help mitigate this?
4. Building a Community offers guidance to building your own community. How can a community bring systemic change?
5. Who Runs Nature? outlines what we can do to benefit nature. How do communities around the world cooperate with the ecosystem and how can this be introduced more to the western world?
6. Creative Mentorship looks at the obstacles young people of colour face when
shut out of particular spaces. How does mentorship help reclaim those spaces?
Outsiders is a ground-breaking book that should make all readers sit up and think about how nature can heal and unite communities, bringing together new voices to help create a more equitable space in which to thrive within nature.
Outsiders: The Outdoors is Yours by Ollie Olanipekun and Nadeem Perera is published by Gaia and can be purchased from bookshops including:
Octopus Books, Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles, Book Depository
Flock Together
Smashing onto the scene during the 2020 lockdown, Flock Together is a movement to inspire everyone, regardless of race, religion or economic status, to build their relationship with the outdoors and embrace all that nature has to offer. Ollie and Nadeem share a mutual love of nature – it is their outlet when faced with neglect and prejudice, it is a place for deep thought and discovery, and it is the foundation on which their friendship and community is built.
‘Nature is a universal resource. For too long Black, Brown and people of colour have felt unwelcome and marginalised in spaces that should be for everyone.’ – Flock Together
Flock Together has been highlighted in numerous articles in the press including in Vogue, The Times, Timeout and SpringWatch among others, and has filmed and featured in an ongoing series for The One Show. It has partnered with various high profile brands, including Gucci, The North Face, the RSPB and The National Trust.
About the Authors
Nadeem Perera is a sports coach and activist, based in Bristol. A self-taught birdwatcher of 13 years, he has acquired expert knowledge of birds, other wildlife and the great outdoors in rural England. He has found ways to connect this experience with communities of all ages through his work in youth football and other sports.
Ollie Olanipekun is a Creative Director, based in north-east London. He is the founder of award-winning creative agency Superimpose/Futurimpose and has social responsibility at the core of his work. Empowering individuals and communities throughout his career, Ollie is committed to supporting this audience as well as building smoother pathways into the creative industries for the next generation of ‘non-traditional’ creatives.
Outsiders: The Outdoors is Yours
£12.85
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