An Other World - by Hanif Fazal (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

We speak in we. A journey towards racial healing and the relationships that set us free.

Addressing the leaders of today and tomorrow, An Other World alternates between heart-wrenching but hopeful letters to Hanif Fazal's daughter Amina, reflections on Fazal's formative life experiences and lessons on identity, Black and Brown relationships, and a unique type of freedom that could be available to all of us.

​​In this moving blend of social commentary and memoir with a call to action, Fazal--co-founder of the Center for Equity and Inclusion--documents his journey towards Black and Brown joy, freedom, and belonging. This timely book traces Fazal's relationships with Black and Brown family members, professional colleagues, and close friends as they attempt to thrive at home, school, and work in the all-consuming whiteness of Portland, Oregon, and the broader United States landscape.

Fazal's youth involved a constant experience as the other in an all-white school system, breakdowns in family, and feeling split between his Mexican and Indian heritages. He went on to create programs that offered healing and belonging to BIPOC youth in schools and to BIPOC adults in the workplace.

In An Other World, Fazal pinpoints how educational and professional diversity frameworks often perform surface-level inclusion but refuse to invest fully in the complex realities of their BIPOC learners and employees. He also stares down the myth of "making it" and invites BIPOC communities to reflect and redefine success on their own terms.

Review Quotes

"Tender and wise, Hanif takes us on a journey inside the experience of navigating a world of whiteness in a black and brown body. Passionate about our freedom, he holds our hands and walks us toward self-agency and love. Through his example, he invites us back home. A must read!" --Ruth King, author of Mindful of Race, and founder and CEO of the Mindful of Race Institute

"Hanif Fazal's authenticity, passion and commitment to building a world where not only his daughter but all of us can truly belong is compelling. In this book he has managed to use his own story to provide the reader with actionable tools that, if used, clear the pathway to 'an other' world" --Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America

About the Author

Hanif Fazal is a co-founder and managing partner of the Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI). CEI is a specialized consultancy that provides support to organizations and leaders interested in building capacity to advance equity and inclusion throughout their operations, culture, and services or programming. For over twenty years, Fazal has developed and delivered innovative equity and inclusion programs across the corporate, education, philanthropic, public and non-profit sectors. Fazal spends most of his professional time speaking, training DEI professionals, and coaching executives and executive teams. He currently lives with his daughter in Portland, Oregon.