Danika reviews Colonize This!: Young Women of Color On Today’s Feminism edited by Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman

colonizethis

Colonize This! is a collection of personal essays by women of colour about feminism, womanism, and related topics. This is a collection that covers a wide range of experiences, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of queer contributors–which shouldn’t really have been a surprise, since one of the editors is bisexual.

This is a book that really explores multiple intersections of racism and sexism, with homophobia forming another layer for many of the women writing. This was written in 2002, so many of the events mentioned are outdated now (9/11 is referenced as being a really recent event, for instance), but unfortunately the issues covered are still extremely relevant today. This is a very readable collection, though it tackles difficult subject matter. If you’re intimidated by picking up feminist theory, this is a book that discusses feminism while not having a lot of barriers to entry.

I really appreciated all the different perspectives in this collection, and how they combined to show some of the complicated ways that sexism and racism manifest in different people’s lived experiences. My only real complaint about this collection was that in contrast to bi and lesbian representation, there weren’t any trans voices or many that addressed disability. (I also thought that the collection had less focus on colonialism than the title would lead you to believe, but I can see how it’s an undercurrent.)

This is still one that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in social justice, racism and anti-racism, colonialism and decolonization, and sexism, feminism, and womanism.

3 Replies to “Danika reviews Colonize This!: Young Women of Color On Today’s Feminism edited by Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman”

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