Sara Ahmed
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Sara Ahmed
Sara Ahmed
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Sara Ahmed is a British-Australian writer and scholar whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, queer theory, affect theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism. Her foundational work, The Cultural Politics of Emotion, in which she explores the social dimension and circulation of emotions, is recognized as a foundational text in the nascent field of affect theory. .. more

Political science 40%
Sociology 36%

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The Cancellers

On complaints and other stories about cancel culture The first time I heard about cheese rolling races was when I read they’d been cancelled. Here’s a headline, “Cheese Rolling race axed after 200 years: thanks to Health and Safety Killjoys.” The story is framed as the cancellation of an age-old tradition. Read the fine print and you will learn that the event was cancelled by the organisers because the pr…

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The Complaint Apparatus

Some thoughts on the co-option of complaints Saying no within an institution let alone to one is no simple matter. To say no to those who control institutional resources is to risk losing access to those resources. Damn it: you might need those resources! Many who are warned that complaining will shut the door on their careers feel they cannot afford to find out whether warnings are idle.

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Complaint Curriculum

I have some more launch events for No is Not a Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining coming up in Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester next week.

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Somewhere Else to Go

Or why I’m still speaking about complaining I am in the middle of a book tour for No is Not a Lonely Utterance. I am so grateful to everyone who has come along thus far.

Reposts 0 Oct 5

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A Complaint Collector

Taking No is Not a Lonely Utterance on tour I began collecting complaints before I became a complaint collector.

Reposts 0 Sep 4

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Get a NO out!

Some thoughts about launching No is Not a Lonely Utterance later this month Some thoughts about launching No is Not a Lonely Utterance later this month

Reposts 0 Sep 1

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The Sound of Solidarity

“From Birzeit University, in the heart of occupied Palestine, we are screaming with Gaza. We need everyone from Palestine, the Arab nations, and the peoples of the world to amplify the cry of Gaza…. Palestinians no longer need to offer proof of the enemy’s savagery – the dead neither provide nor require evidence. The bodies of the living – of the displa…

Reposts 0 Jul 25

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When collectivity is confused with compliance

In No is Not a Lonely Utterance, I consider how and why collectivity is sometimes confused with compliance.

Reposts 0 Jul 18

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A Useful Manifesto

Old tales and trails I remember when I first wrote “A Killjoy Manifesto,” one of the two conclusions of my 2017 book, Living a Feminist Life. I had not intended to end the book with a manifesto: the book originally concluded with “lesbian feminism.” I rather suspect it was writing the book whilst fighting against the normalising of sexual harassment at my former institution…

Reposts 0 Jul 11

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Image Problems

Some reflections on perception and violence A British journalist ended an in-depth piece, “Israel is accused of the gravest war crimes - how governments respond could haunt them for years to come,” with details of a conversation he had with an Israeli officer.

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Blanking

On the distortion of feminist histories (and collecting some critiques of “gender critical” feminism in one post) Over the past few months, I have written a number of critiques of “gender critical” or “sex realist” or “sex uncritical” feminism. I was compelled to write these critiques because of the situation we are in. The fragile hard-fought-for rights of trans people to live their lives safely, with dignity and on their own terms, are being dismantled.

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The Room Where it Happened

Speaking of institutional violence What if the rooms in which you speak of how institutions are haunted by violent histories are haunted by those same histories?

Reposts 0 May 30

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Stealing Sex

Some remarks on some stories told by “gender critical” feminists I was glad to learn that Penguin was releasing some of Andrea Dworkin’s books as modern classics. I was glad for many reasons. One was that we would now have closer to hand evidence that radical feminists have offered strong critiques of the idea of biological sex.

Reposts 0 May 22

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Meeting in Defiance

Some thoughts on “no” before travelling to Istanbul By saying “no is not a lonely utterance,” I am not denying that sometimes we are alone when we are hit by violence.

Reposts 0 May 12

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Words Stripped of Meaning

Dignity, Diversity and Other Hostile Environments In a powerful article, Nicky Bandini describes what it is like to be “a transgender person in the UK over the past two weeks,” waking up “daily to discussions on how your life must be made smaller.”

Reposts 0 May 6

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Meaningless Sex

Some thoughts on the Supreme Court, The EHRC and other feminist dystopias Some thoughts on the Supreme Court, The EHRC and other feminist dystopias

Reposts 0 Apr 29

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