‘LIVING A FEMINIST LIFE’ – A REVIEW

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What comes to mind when you hear the word feminism?

Are you a feminist?

What does living life as a feminist mean?

These are some of the questions that Dr. Sara Ahmed seeks to answer in this informative book. She combines decades of scholarship, leadership and personal experience to bring to life this insightful book. 

She is blunt, forthcoming and unapologetic. 

She is unyielding in her quest to ask ethical questions about how to live better in an unjust and unequal world; how to create relationships with others that are more equal; and how to find ways to support those who are not supported or are less supported by social systems.

Dr. Sara Ahmed aptly elucidates on issues such as sexism, racism, phallocentrism and patriarchy. She shows how all these issues are connected and contribute to oppression against less-privileged people. 

Living A Feminist Life is a must-read text to everyone willing to understand the dynamism of power relations in the world.

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‘RELATIONSHIP GOALS’ – A REVIEW

“We live in a world that has more and more relationships and less and less love, more and more sex and less and less intimacy,” says Pastor Todd. 

What is it that we are not doing right? What is it that we are doing right but can do better?

These are the questions that Pastor Todd and his wife Natalie seek to answer in this book. The two found love young. At age 15 and 14 respectively. They went on to get engaged and eventually married. Their relationship however, was not without its own challenges and pitfalls. It too, like most romantic relationships, has experienced its fair share of temptations, misunderstandings and fallouts. Yet the relationship has somehow weathered those storms. 

This book was written with the biblical understanding of love, as its basis. “I believe in discovering the truth by uncovering lies, so we are going to put the realities of today’s relationships up against the truths in God’s word about how to live with others,” he says. 

Both Pastor Todd and his wife Natalie, have drawn from their real life experiences to fill the pages of this insightful book. Herein they have made a vulnerable, intimate, yet empowering introspection of their relationship. They explore and debunk cultural relationships myths. More importantly, they  offer tried and tested, practical advice, on how to cultivate and nurture a romantic relationship, in line with God’s word. 

Pastor Michael Todd is the lead pastor at Transformation Church, alongside his wife. Their wealth of experience in pastoral ministry is evident in their approach in tackling this ubiquitous yet complex phenomenon. 

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‘So You Want To Talk About Race’ – A Review

The brutal death of George Flyod at the hands of law enforcement officers has caused shock waves all over the world. Seeing that knee on his neck snuff the life out of him led to mass protests. It vindicated the cause for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. His death shed light on the brazen acts of police brutality especially against black people in the United States. Racial discrimination is nothing new in America. Conversations around race and the terror that black people are subjected to is essential, now more than ever. 

That’s exactly what Ijeoma Oluo seeks to do in this utterly must-have, must-read book. She talks of her experience as a black woman in America. How the colour of her skin is woven into every aspect of her life. From how she dresses, where she goes to, her hair and how she talks. She tells of how she’s been called ‘too loud’ for speaking her mind. How she’s been told that her beautiful, natural, black hair is ‘too ethnic’ for the office. How she’s been followed by store clerk as soon as she stepped in to buy some groceries. How she was paid way less than her white colleagues for doing the same jobs. 

Ijeoma is a woman who stands on the shoulders of the literary giants that have come before her. Literary giants like Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. She continues the passionate call for justice and equality that Martin Luther, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X fought for. As an author, she continues the painful but necessary conversation on racial equality. 

Like her predecessors, she isn’t all complaints and no solutions. Herein, she has conscientiously proposed practical and relevant steps that we can take to end racial oppression. 

This is the passionate, well-researched, well-articulated work of a woman who has borne the yoke of racial prejudice. A woman who decided to start writing about her fears and frustrations. A woman who felt so oppressed by the very system that is supposed to protect her. A woman who embodied the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu; “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

This is the book for the billions of people around the world who want to be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. This is the book for people who don’t want to live in fear of law enforcers. This is the book for people who want to be treated with dignity and respect. This is the book for people who believe there’s more that unites us than divides us. 

In Ijeoma’s words; “It all starts with a conversation.”

Get yourself a copy of this book and join the conversation!

BLACK LIVES MATTER!