Stories that Challenge Perspectives and Foster Inclusion

#2 Deepen Your Gaze: The Inclusion Virtual Library

Welcome to The Inclusion Room — a space where literature, science, and storytelling meet to unlock the power of diversity, inspiring both personal and professional growth.

Dear Readers,
I hope this letter finds you well!

One of Inclusion Room’s ambitions is to create a virtual library of books and resources that will bring together knowledge and insights to:

• Outline a path towards collectively ensuring an inclusive society.

• Help individuals recognize their uniqueness as a strength.

Once a month, I will share a selection of resources that have inspired the themes of this Community.

I hope that these resources will offer you additional insights to deepen your reflections.

As part of Inclusion Room's DNA and my multicultural approach, you will find references in different languages.

You can find the first post of this series in Deepen Your Gaze: The Inclusion Virtual Library.

Let’s fill the shelves with:

📚 2 new books I’ve read and can’t wait to share with you

📻 1 podcast I recently discovered

🎁 2 resource suggestions from the Inclusion Room community

💌 2 posts selected from the Inclusion Room subscribers that truly resonated with me

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📚Books :

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardino Evaristo

Between the pages of this book, it feels like stepping into the lives of many people, exploring different ways of living and being "the Other." Girl, Woman, Other is a window into varied worlds, inviting the reader to see life through new eyes.

Bernardine Evaristo’s style is exceptionally unique: lacking traditional punctuation, the text flows like a continuous stream of thoughts and actions. This approach transforms the reading experience into a full immersion, almost hypnotic, into the stories of the protagonists.

The book is a powerful and inclusive ode, celebrating women in all their dimensions: mothers, daughters, Black, foreign, gay, hetero… constantly evolving, crossing time and space. Each voice is a piece of a complex and vibrant mosaic, reflecting the infinite shades of human identity.

Girl, Woman, Other inspires one to rise above their circumstances, using resilience and self-determination to carve a path forward.

In particular, one quote that, in my opinion, encapsulates the essence of the book is:

"I'm not a victim, don't ever treat me like a victim, my mother didn't raise me to be a victim."

This line from Waris, a Somali woman facing the harshness of life in the context of migration and identity struggles, is a cry of self-determination and a rejection of the labels society seeks to impose on women, particularly those coming from difficult backgrounds.

It’s a common fight to avoid being reduced to stereotypes or victims of circumstances.

This quote has become my mantra.

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Le racisme ordinaire au travail - Marie France Custos - Lucidi

This eye-opening book is currently only available in French. Below are some key takeaways, and you will find a detailed review in French further down.

Marie-France Custos-Lucidi, a work psychologist, explores the lives of seven individuals facing racial discrimination at work, highlighting the defense mechanisms they use to cope with this suffering. Through these stories, where class, race, and gender intertwine, the author sheds light on the defense mechanisms that are triggered to protect against suffering at work.In the end, the book offers a sense of hope: the protagonists, without becoming revolutionaries, lose their illusions about the organizations they served and finally find their place in the world.

French review:

Marie-France Custos-Lucidi, psychologue du travail, nous plonge dans le quotidien de sept patients victimes de discriminations raciales en milieu professionnel. À travers ces récits où classe, race et genre s’entrelacent, l’autrice met en lumière les mécanismes de défense qui se déclenchent pour protéger de la souffrance au travail. L'ethnicisation des rapports sociaux dans le monde du travail touche de nombreux salariés, mais reste souvent ignorée, par peur d'être perçue comme de la victimisation ou d'invalider la parole de ceux qui en souffrent. Certains préfèrent se taire plutôt que d’entendre des remarques du type : "Arrête de voir de la discrimination partout", tandis que d'autres refusent de se reconnaître comme victimes, croyant que leur statut social, leurs diplômes ou leurs résultats professionnels les protègent.

Cette lecture nous entraîne dans les méandres de l’esprit humain et des violences, de la plus insidieuse à la plus manifeste. Elle nous laisse avec l'espoir qu'il est possible de sortir du piège, à l'image des protagonistes de ces histoires, qui, loin de devenir révolutionnaires,

‘’ils perdent leurs illusions sur les organisations auxquelles ils ont obéi avec servilité et trouvent leur place dans le monde’’.

Reading this book inspired me to reflect on a personal situation, which I have summarized in this note.

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📻Podcast

I recently discovered this bilingual podcast (English and French) that gave me plenty of food for thought during my weekly travels:

In my shoes

Episode 13 provided me with the opportunity to further explore my research on AI and stereotypes.

This episode and the book are in French, but you can find my insights on the topic in this post.

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🎁Suggestions from the Community

Special thanks to

Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay

and

Camila Caicedo

for their inspiring suggestions, which I’ve added to my resource list to deepen my perspective on inclusion challenges:

From Jay :Wecreatespace

‘’a community space with curated information and a free course’’

From Camila: Unmasking Autism

‘’this book is really for and about neurodivergent people's experiences in the world and how making the world more accessible for us makes it better for everyone’’

💌 Found on Substack

• From

  Maria Cires

The true cost of wearing a mask.

What I loved: The difficult and delicate balance between staying true to oneself in full authenticity while making the effort to adapt across cultures—and all the misunderstandings that can arise from that, resonated deeply with my own experience. You have perhaps read this post: Smile across border

• From

  Maïssane Benaim

Multipotentiality: Why Be One Thing When You Can Be Everything?

What resonated deeply with me: It’s all in the first chapter—Understanding the True Power of Your Uniqueness as a Multipotentialite. Society often tries to put us in boxes, but we are not all the same. After a long journey, recognizing myself as an explorer has finally allowed me to embrace who I am and thrive in my own way.

I’d love to hear your recommendations for the Inclusion Virtual Library!

What’s the best book or resource you’ve read on themes of diversity, inclusion, or living abroad?

Thanks for reading The Inclusion Room, I hope you enjoyed our time together, and I look forward to seeing you in the next post!