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The Feminist Killjoy Handbook by Sara Ahmed

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The Feminist Killjoy Handbook

Narrator
Sara Ahmed
Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date
2 March 2023
Run Time
9 hours 56 minutes
Format
Audiobook

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

We have to keep saying it because they keep doing it.


Do colleagues roll their eyes in a meeting when you use words like sexism or racism? Do you refuse to laugh at jokes that aren't funny? Have you been called divisive for pointing out a division? Then you are a feminist killjoy, and this handbook is for you.

The term killjoy has been used to dismiss feminism by claiming that it causes misery. But by naming ourselves feminist killjoys, we recover a feminist history, turning it into a source of strength as well as an inspiration.

Drawing on her own stories and those of others, especially Black and brown feminists and queer thinkers, Sara Ahmed combines depth of thought with honesty and intimacy. The Feminist Killjoy Handbook unpicks the lies our culture tells us and provides a form of solidarity and companionship that can be returned to over a lifetime.

©2023 Sara Ahmed (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

  • A deliberate intervention written in direct and accessible prose, building and nurturing the community it addresses...at a time when social change is urgently needed, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook provides sharp and usable tools for readers who have been made to feel isolated, insignificant and difficult. It is a generous offering from an important theorist, and highly recommended

    Irish Times

  • The pioneering theorist Sara Ahmed's The Feminist Killjoy Handbook ... subverts guidebooks wonderfully

    New Statesman

  • Odd and exciting to let out a shout as one reads a book of theory, theory written for and about the ordinary outrages that demand a feminist response. This book releases a sound that emerges from the full diaphragm, a life force held in check for too long. Ahmed moves from scene to scene with clarity, rage, and joy, building through each refrain to mark the brutal violence of everyday encounters and to show us what a life-affirming response can be. Ahmed thinks in the middle of rage, never letting go of the possibility of joyful resistance, writing, turning over what she just wrote, showing how "obstinacy" is one form for the desire to survive. And yet, throughout, the humility of this brilliant feminist thinker shines through. This book is a great gift, enormously important for overcoming this vicious trans/feminist divide, showing how anti-racism and the struggle for disability rights is central to feminist and queer thinking and politics

    Judith Butler

  • Full of memorable zingers ... Ahmed has a rare power for naming what many of us know to be true: her articulation holds the power of clarity

    Vanity Fair

See more reviews
  • In this fervent manifesto, Ahmed brings impressive clarity to a field of study often opaque in the hands of others. Admirers of Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts should take note

    Publishers Weekly

  • Combines her signature humor—bitingly funny, in this case—with accessible language and theoretical discourse, making this title as appropriate for university courses as it is for self-identified “feminist killjoys,” people who point out sexist comments or don’t laugh at offensive jokes… This book arms readers with a sense of vital energy, often lost due to burnout, compassion fatigue, and microaggressions. Audiences curious about navigating the intersection between feminism and daily life, intellectualism, poetry, and activism will love this title

    Library Journal

  • Feminist and social activists are certain to find the book encouraging. A good reminder that the work of activists is often challenging yet important

    Kirkus

  • A celebration ... Ahmed, one of the world's leading feminist and queer theorists, is both clever and generous, and has a talent for bringing her readers with her, without ever dumbing down or sugar-coating her politics, love of theory, or lived experience as a queer woman of colour ... Ahmed addresses the challenges of the present and her ongoing project of platforming and protecting the feminist killjoy remains vital and refreshing

    Inside Story

  • Reading Sara Ahmed’s The Feminist Killjoy Handbook comes as a great relief … With astonishingly clear and economical prose, she examines the ways in which self-doubt and isolation – but also solidarity – can come from being part of a network of feminist “killjoys” … luminous … to be a feminist killjoy is [to take] language by the hand to join a joyful and lucid struggle against injustice

    Nation

  • Sara Ahmed's Feminist Killjoy Handbook is not only a dazzling analysis of the workings of sexism, but a balm for the soul. Ahmed's insight that being a feminist is being a killjoy is as consoling as it is revelatory. It makes sense of the bad atmosphere, the uncomfortable feelings that swirl around feminism; it gives you ballast in the storm. Read it. Give it to everyone. It will teach you how to survive and how to transform the world

    Hannah Dawson

User Reviews

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Details

Author
Sara Ahmed
Narrator
Sara Ahmed
Duration
9 hours 56 minutes
Release Date
2 March 2023
ISBN
9781802062649
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd
Genre
Feminism and feminist theory, Social discrimination and social justice, Sociology, LGBTQ+ Studies / topics

Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.We have to keep saying it because they keep doing it.Do colleagues roll their eyes in a meeting when you use words like sexism or racism? Do you refuse to laugh at jokes that aren't funny? Have you been called divisive for pointing out a division? Then you are a feminist killjoy, and this handbook is for you.The term killjoy has been used to dismiss feminism by claiming that it causes misery. But by naming ourselves feminist killjoys, we recover a feminist history, turning it into a source of strength as well as an inspiration.Drawing on her own stories and those of others, especially Black and brown feminists and queer thinkers, Sara Ahmed combines depth of thought with honesty and intimacy. The Feminist Killjoy Handbook unpicks the lies our culture tells us and provides a form of solidarity and companionship that can be returned to over a lifetime.©2023 Sara Ahmed (P)2023 Penguin Audio

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