One of Them: An Eton College Memoir by Musa Okwonga
An ‘outsider’ looks back at his time at one of the most prestigious schools in the UK
Musa Okwonga isn’t your average Eton College student. The son of Ugandan refugees, Okwonga explores race, class, and privilege in his memoir, One of Them, about his time at the school which previously educated 20 prime ministers.
One of Them delves into the traditions, culture, and power structures found at Eton College. A real look into an experience only a select number of men get to be a part of.
A privileged but racist society
What sets this memoir apart is Okwonga’s compelling insight into institutionalised racism in the UK and his attempts to navigate himself through it. By taking extra care not to get into trouble with the headmaster and the police to terrifying accounts of racist people he has encountered, including a man who threateningly exposed his collection of swastikas to Okwonga, this poignant memoir highlights his struggles as a black man through all walks of life.
Okwonga is self-critical about his upbringing but makes it easy to detract from his privileged education because of the awful experiences he had been subjected to due to his race.
He empathises with the high expectations placed upon the white, upper-class men who attend Eton — some being UK politicians in power today — but knows he will always be different. The colour of his skin is a constant reminder that he is not like everybody else.
Add it to your reading list of black authors
One of Them is an unexpectedly short read packed with short snippets of Okwonga’s life at Eton, the period leading up to his school reunion and beyond. The brief chapters made it difficult to understand how he’s feeling truly, and his writing approach is slightly unorthodox. He constantly jumps back and forth in his chronology during his time at Eton, making his experiences difficult to place. He also talks about his experience as though he was going through it presently, despite writing it many years later, and reflecting on what young Okwonga will learn from this in the future. Both of which are confusing and unlike traditional memoirs.
Later in life, a therapist remarks how Okwonga can easily talk about his race, privilege, and sexuality, but not so much about his time at school. He claims this is because he doesn’t want to be seen as the “poor little rich boy”, but in this memoir, he blends the talking points perfectly.
His struggles as an outsider in an establishment where its students date back to slave owners combined with the outcome of his successful, privileged education make for a thoroughly intimate read and an appropriate assessment of race and class in the UK today.
