You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.57 AVERAGE
4.57 AVERAGE
as always, angela davis is accessible and illuminating! this filled in some gaps in my understand of current state (or at least 2005 state) of american empire. I feel like I need to read 800 more books
- unrated/non-fiction, re-read -
a very concise summarization of Angela Davis's thoughts on what it means to be a prison abolitionist, and an abolitionist in general. the quote "the challenge of the twenty-first century is not to demand equal opportunity to participate in the machinery of oppression" has informed my understanding of identity politics and the limits of representation - and the need for liberational, radical politics, that resist being co-opted into the capitalist scheme - more than anything else.
I think this work is also especially important today (Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison today) because though it is good that the state recognized that George Floyd's death was a crime, it is somewhat of a trap to be too mollified by Chauvin's sentencing. There is more work to be done, and justice will never be given through prison sentences or corporal punishment.
a very concise summarization of Angela Davis's thoughts on what it means to be a prison abolitionist, and an abolitionist in general. the quote "the challenge of the twenty-first century is not to demand equal opportunity to participate in the machinery of oppression" has informed my understanding of identity politics and the limits of representation - and the need for liberational, radical politics, that resist being co-opted into the capitalist scheme - more than anything else.
I think this work is also especially important today (Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison today) because though it is good that the state recognized that George Floyd's death was a crime, it is somewhat of a trap to be too mollified by Chauvin's sentencing. There is more work to be done, and justice will never be given through prison sentences or corporal punishment.
I am still on the waiting list for Are Prisons Obsolete at my library, and I feel like my experience would have been better had I read that first. There were a few transcription errors that got missed it editing, which made some things a bit confusing. Content is great though and still relevant today; it was easy to make connections and see how things have gotten to this point.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Not the place to start with Davis in my opinion, but a really good insight into her views on the prison-industrial-complex in the context of the events of 2004/2005 and the war on terror.
Returning to this text after reading it in college and it is much more meaningful to me now as I deepen my understanding of how hyper-globalized capitalism, the prison-industrial and military-industrial complex continue to shape American policy domestic and foreign. I wasn't thinking deeply about prison abolition then, but I am now and this book has provided some much needed grounding for my imaginings of what's possible and the unfinished work of true abolition. More than anything this book reminds me of the importance of a radical imagination that is not constrained by false narratives of what's possible.
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Some parts of this felt like coming to a class discussion without having done the assigned reading. I think I need to come back to it in the future when I have read more.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I admire the work Angela does and how she answers and thinks about issues in an interdisciplinary way. I liked the way she guided Mendieta to reframe his questions and to think about them.