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A review by half_book_and_co
Can We All Be Feminists?: Seventeen Writers on Intersectionality, Identity and Finding the Right Way Forward for Feminism by Selina Thompson, Mariya Karimjee, June Eric-Udorie, Caitlin Cruz, Aisha Gani, Eishar Kaur, Frances Ryan, Gabrielle Bellot, Afua Hirsch, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Wei Ming Kam, Juliet Jacques, Zoé Samudzi, Evette Dionne, Brit Bennett, Emer O'Toole, Soofiya Andry, Charlotte Shane
5.0
4,5/5
Barbara Smith, in an interview in How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (2017), said : "What we were saying is that we have a right as people who are not just female, who are not solely Black, who are not just lesbians, who are not just working class, or workers - that we are people who embody all of these identities, and we have a right to build and define political theory and practice based upon that reality." That sentiment also finds itself in the new anthology Can We All Be Feminists?: Seventeen Writers on Intersectionality, Identity and Finding the Right Way Forward for Feminism, edited by just twenty-years-old writer and activist June Eric-Udorie. These wonderful essay - by writers such as Gabrielle Bellot, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Afua Hirsch, and many more - tackle a width of topics while the different authors describe their relationships to (Mainstream) feminism, the exclusions they experience(d), and the feminism(s) they aspire to. A prevalent topic is migration and the many experiences which come with it for many of the authors are children of migrants or have migrated themselves, mostly from Carribean, African, and Asian countries to the UK or USA. As with most anthologies, I did not find every text equally satisfying to read. For a book so inclined on putting intersectional analysis front and centre, I was surprised about some rather cis-normative writing on reproductive rights in some texts (while others showed how you can write about the topic without perpetuating the idea that women = vagina and uterus). Also at times, I wished for more links to and deeper engagement with earlier conceptual, theoretical, and activist works (especially going beyond the naming of Kimberly Crenshaw). But these critical points aside, I would highly recommend the book. I feel it might make a great book for many different readers: people who want to get into feminism, people who want to broaden their ideas, and people who will find themselves reflected in this multi-faceted anthology.
Barbara Smith, in an interview in How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (2017), said : "What we were saying is that we have a right as people who are not just female, who are not solely Black, who are not just lesbians, who are not just working class, or workers - that we are people who embody all of these identities, and we have a right to build and define political theory and practice based upon that reality." That sentiment also finds itself in the new anthology Can We All Be Feminists?: Seventeen Writers on Intersectionality, Identity and Finding the Right Way Forward for Feminism, edited by just twenty-years-old writer and activist June Eric-Udorie. These wonderful essay - by writers such as Gabrielle Bellot, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Afua Hirsch, and many more - tackle a width of topics while the different authors describe their relationships to (Mainstream) feminism, the exclusions they experience(d), and the feminism(s) they aspire to. A prevalent topic is migration and the many experiences which come with it for many of the authors are children of migrants or have migrated themselves, mostly from Carribean, African, and Asian countries to the UK or USA. As with most anthologies, I did not find every text equally satisfying to read. For a book so inclined on putting intersectional analysis front and centre, I was surprised about some rather cis-normative writing on reproductive rights in some texts (while others showed how you can write about the topic without perpetuating the idea that women = vagina and uterus). Also at times, I wished for more links to and deeper engagement with earlier conceptual, theoretical, and activist works (especially going beyond the naming of Kimberly Crenshaw). But these critical points aside, I would highly recommend the book. I feel it might make a great book for many different readers: people who want to get into feminism, people who want to broaden their ideas, and people who will find themselves reflected in this multi-faceted anthology.