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Reviews
Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor by Alice Sparkly Kat
samiavasa's review
3.75
The project of laying bare the ideas and material history that accumulates within astrological terms is ambitious and beautifully executed. We get a super universalist, multi historical look into the trails of capital and whiteness through planetary significations.
My problem with this book is that it reduces astrology to relations of power. No mention of uncanniness, direct contact with the soul, synchronicities, the ever-strange accuracy of divinatory techniques. It is true we don’t talk about violence enough. But this book overcorrects this tendency and ends up with an astrology that is entirely human, entirely cultural.
My problem with this book is that it reduces astrology to relations of power. No mention of uncanniness, direct contact with the soul, synchronicities, the ever-strange accuracy of divinatory techniques. It is true we don’t talk about violence enough. But this book overcorrects this tendency and ends up with an astrology that is entirely human, entirely cultural.
vcollazo's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.5
This is definitely more for people with a baseline understanding of astrology. It was a really interesting look at Western astrology!
agwood32's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Master-class in leftist theory taught through the critique of Hellenistic Astrology.
viki_vamp's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Sexual violence
anajonessy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
caseygoesoutside's review against another edition
3.0
Had to stop reading about a third of the way through; clearly well researched and certainly on an important topic, but I did not find it very engaging and I found it frustrating that the author (in my opinion, this could be personal) seemed to avoid the question of, “now what?” I was looking for “This is a problematic thing. Here’s what to do or how to think about it instead,” but there was very little of that. And for the record, I did skim the rest of the chapters and the conclusion to see if there was any of that, but I found very little. Good book I’m sure, just a bit too dense and did not answer the questions I was looking for.