Chapter summary

Within this chapter I explore how black crime fiction operates much the same as a researcher investigating the complexities of black life through immersive observation such as ethnography. Black crime fiction, I would argue, lifts the veil on black criminality, victimhood, and offending, much the same as any other crime fiction genre. However, additionally, what black crime fiction does, through character interaction, plot construction, propelled by a black vernacular, is to shine a light on the nuances of race, that shape elements of black criminality obscured by much of so-called mainstream criminology, which at times fails to capture, engage with, or represent black life, and its relationship with society and history.

Take collective action to break down the systemic barriers to representation of creators of colour. We know that people of colour are under-represented in the creative and cultural sectors. In this report we argue that one of the challenges to changing this is to confront a negative cycle of barriers which are reflective of those seen within our society more generally. (Ramdarshan, 2019: 15)