INTERVIEW WITH CAROL BECKER
Beyond Bias
GU-Q Book Launch Event Sheds Light on Racism and Family Generational Discord
Columbia News Interview
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
What happens when entrenched biases are confronted in families, can they grow and survive, or will they be destroyed? This was the heart of a riveting discussion between award-winning novelist Kamila Shamsie and esteemed writer and academic Dr. Carol Becker at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q).
While spending time at GU-Q as a visiting fellow teaching a course on Arts and Artists in Society, Dr. Becker discussed her new book George’s Daughter with Shamsie, GU-Q’s Writer-in-Residence.
A deeply personal and evocative memoir set in the diverse neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, populated with concentration camp and famine survivors immigrants following World War II, George’s Daughter details a generational rupture along racial and religious lines that threatens to break apart a family, offering a poignant meditation on inheritance, disillusionment, and reconciliation.
Kamia Shamsie and Carol Becker
The book’s core message is about reconciling with family members when racism tears them apart. Disowned by her father for her romantic interest in a Black composer, Dr. Becker shared how her storytelling presents her father first as a beloved figure. “I didn’t want people to meet my father as the racist person that he was, because that was just one aspect of the person he was,” she shared, adding: “I wanted them to understand why I loved him, and why it was so devastating that we couldn’t agree.”
The deeply personal story found resonance with audiences, who positively responded to Dr. Becker’s emotional bravery and complex characters. “If you are willing to go deep enough into your emotions, other people will connect to those emotions…people just put their own stories into the narrative,” she shared.
Acclaimed for her thought-provoking literary works, Dr. Becker has an extensive body of writing, including Losing Helen, The Invisible Drama: Women and the Anxiety of Change, and Thinking in Place: Art, Action, and Cultural Production. Becker’s reflections on art, culture, and personal history continue to inspire global audiences.
Now celebrating 20 years in Qatar, GU-Q is committed to providing opportunities for timely and thought-provoking dialogue with thought leaders such as Dr. Becker for students, faculty, and the wider community.