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A review by goldandsalt
Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed
3.0
Alas, just not really what I was hoping for.
I picked this up because I kept seeing Ahmed cited in works I really loved, because I read and loved her article "The Nonperformativity of Antiracism," because she's so influential to the fantastic podcast Secret Feminist Agenda by Hannah McGregor, and lastly because the title of this book just can't be beat. It hints at many of my academic interests.
But Ahmed is *such* a humanitarian. Is that the right word? She writes from the perspective of the humanities, as opposed to the social sciences where I live. She does a lot of work with language - cracking open a word to make its etymology clear, repeating it to use all of its different nuances, etc. I've often wanted to dabble in the humanities more, but I just don't get excited by wordplay. This made a lot of this book tedious for me and the thrilling promises made by the chapter titles were not delivered (based on my own interests, of course).
I was so excited to see what she would do with an attempt to revitalize lesbian feminism, but it just felt trans-exclusive to me, even though she specifically articulates a trans-inclusive politics. It felt like an afterthought, rather than being baked in. And granted, I'm sensitive about this, but I felt big bi-erasure as well.
Thanks to Hannah McGregor hyping it up in her podcast, I was so pumped to read the original feminist Killjoy Survival Kit, but I liked McGregor's work with the idea better. I guess I wanted it to be more materialist, more practical, more instructive. Instead it's very broad and fairly high-concept. I love theory, don't get me wrong, but I guess the idea of a "kit" just put me in the wrong headspace to be able to receive what Ahmed is offering here.
So. All that said, there is nothing wrong with this book (except maybe the bi-erasure and the nagging feeling I got of transness as afterthought, but maybe I'm just not reading it right?). If you operate from the humanities, you'll probably love it. It's very readable, considering. But it just wasn't the book I was hoping it would be.
I picked this up because I kept seeing Ahmed cited in works I really loved, because I read and loved her article "The Nonperformativity of Antiracism," because she's so influential to the fantastic podcast Secret Feminist Agenda by Hannah McGregor, and lastly because the title of this book just can't be beat. It hints at many of my academic interests.
But Ahmed is *such* a humanitarian. Is that the right word? She writes from the perspective of the humanities, as opposed to the social sciences where I live. She does a lot of work with language - cracking open a word to make its etymology clear, repeating it to use all of its different nuances, etc. I've often wanted to dabble in the humanities more, but I just don't get excited by wordplay. This made a lot of this book tedious for me and the thrilling promises made by the chapter titles were not delivered (based on my own interests, of course).
I was so excited to see what she would do with an attempt to revitalize lesbian feminism, but it just felt trans-exclusive to me, even though she specifically articulates a trans-inclusive politics. It felt like an afterthought, rather than being baked in. And granted, I'm sensitive about this, but I felt big bi-erasure as well.
Thanks to Hannah McGregor hyping it up in her podcast, I was so pumped to read the original feminist Killjoy Survival Kit, but I liked McGregor's work with the idea better. I guess I wanted it to be more materialist, more practical, more instructive. Instead it's very broad and fairly high-concept. I love theory, don't get me wrong, but I guess the idea of a "kit" just put me in the wrong headspace to be able to receive what Ahmed is offering here.
So. All that said, there is nothing wrong with this book (except maybe the bi-erasure and the nagging feeling I got of transness as afterthought, but maybe I'm just not reading it right?). If you operate from the humanities, you'll probably love it. It's very readable, considering. But it just wasn't the book I was hoping it would be.