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Possessions: A Memoir of Transformation in an Era of Precarity
‘I was so thirsty for the prize of academia, so thrilled to defy the fates, that I suffocated my own history and culture, my Burmese heritage and my mother’s language. By doing this, I also possessed my ancestors and made them dance to the tune of Imperialism. How could I be so wrong?’
After two decades of academic research and undergraduate teaching Davina Quinlivan, and the world of university education, were approaching crisis; teaching online, ticking boxes for other people's diversity criteria, stuck, like so many others, in a cycle of fixed term contracts. Yet as a child of Anglo-Burmese parents, growing up in West London, academia had promised a way out. Something better.
This is her powerful, compelling story of fragmenting and rebuilding from the inside out, one that is filled with the voices of both Burma and Southall. Haunted by the ghosts of colonialism, Davina Quinlivan beautifully lays bare our blind spots as we grapple with decolonisation and the hypocrisies within our institutions of education.
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PRAISE FOR POSSESSIONS
'A fever dream of a book. Powerful and important' Devika Ponnambalam, author of I Am Not Your Eve
'A luminous memoir of self-reinvention. Lyrical, unflinching, Possessions is a powerful meditation on identity, inheritance, and bodily autonomy' Brian Chikwava, author of Harare North and Shamiso
'Possessions is a brilliant examination of how a young woman of mixed-heritage and working-class origin has been pressurised into assimilation. It charts Quinlivan's ultimate rejection of "passing for something else" as she reclaims her mind and body. Told in stunningly beautiful prose, it's impossible not to be moved by this story of the power of nature to heal a spirit once hidden and now coming into the light' Angharad Hampshire, author of The Mare
A fearless memoir of transformation and belonging. With lyrical precision and startling honesty, the author reclaims language, identity and the body as sources of power and renewal. Blending myth, memory and intellect, this is a spellbinding work of resistance and tender, defiant and alive Ashley Hickson-Lovence, author of Wild East
'Possessions is a feast of countless courses - among them the life of St. Sidwella, feminist theory, Burmese folklore and the horrors of Zoom job interviews. The result is as disturbing as it is a wonderful, soul-scouring book' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen
After two decades of academic research and undergraduate teaching Davina Quinlivan, and the world of university education, were approaching crisis; teaching online, ticking boxes for other people's diversity criteria, stuck, like so many others, in a cycle of fixed term contracts. Yet as a child of Anglo-Burmese parents, growing up in West London, academia had promised a way out. Something better.
This is her powerful, compelling story of fragmenting and rebuilding from the inside out, one that is filled with the voices of both Burma and Southall. Haunted by the ghosts of colonialism, Davina Quinlivan beautifully lays bare our blind spots as we grapple with decolonisation and the hypocrisies within our institutions of education.
____________
PRAISE FOR POSSESSIONS
'A fever dream of a book. Powerful and important' Devika Ponnambalam, author of I Am Not Your Eve
'A luminous memoir of self-reinvention. Lyrical, unflinching, Possessions is a powerful meditation on identity, inheritance, and bodily autonomy' Brian Chikwava, author of Harare North and Shamiso
'Possessions is a brilliant examination of how a young woman of mixed-heritage and working-class origin has been pressurised into assimilation. It charts Quinlivan's ultimate rejection of "passing for something else" as she reclaims her mind and body. Told in stunningly beautiful prose, it's impossible not to be moved by this story of the power of nature to heal a spirit once hidden and now coming into the light' Angharad Hampshire, author of The Mare
A fearless memoir of transformation and belonging. With lyrical precision and startling honesty, the author reclaims language, identity and the body as sources of power and renewal. Blending myth, memory and intellect, this is a spellbinding work of resistance and tender, defiant and alive Ashley Hickson-Lovence, author of Wild East
'Possessions is a feast of countless courses - among them the life of St. Sidwella, feminist theory, Burmese folklore and the horrors of Zoom job interviews. The result is as disturbing as it is a wonderful, soul-scouring book' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 29, 2026
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