Sista Resister
Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism
by m seenarine
Xpyr Press 2023. 327 pages
This book presents 50 biographies of radical women of color activists from over 25 countries and terrorites. Available on Amazon
About
The book, Sista Resister: Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism, introduce the biographies of women from over 25 countries and territories. This eclectic collection of biographies of female activists show that 'Third World' females are active on a wide range of issues, from women's and children's health, to housing and labor rights, the environment and climate change. The book is divided into two sections. Part I, on current sista resisters, chronicles the lives of 30 contemporary female activists, from Mexico to the Philippines. The 20 life stories in Part II, on foresisters of resistance, establish that women in the Global South were some of the earliest feminist thinkers and writers in the world. Each life story refutes the common misrepresentation of Indigenous, African, Asian, Latina, Muslim, Dalit and other females as docile creatures in need of Western rescue.
Contrary to their depiction in mainstream media as passive and docile, women in the 'Third World' were some of the first women's rightist activists. For instance, Fang Weiyi (1585 to 1668) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648 to 1695) wrote about women's rights a century before Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 to 1797), whose essay, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792), is widely regarded as one of the first feminist text. And, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's (1880 to 1932) feminist science fiction novella, Sultana's Dream (1905), was written a decade before Charlotte Perkins Gilman's popular feminist utopian novel, Herland (1915). One of the main goals of this book is to amplify the voices of high-melanin female activists, and examples of their work are included in each portrait.
Table of Contents
Defining Terms and Intentions | ix |
Glossary | x |
Acknowledgments | xv |
Preface | 1 |
Introduction | 9 |
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PART I - CONTEMPORARY RESISTERS |
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1. Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya) | 47 |
2. Audra Simpson (Mohawk/Canada) | 50 |
3. Marielle Franco (Rio, Brazil) | 53 |
4. Sarah Deer (Muscogee/US) | 58 |
5. Lydia Cacho (Mexico) | 63 |
6. Yue Xin (Beijing, China) | 68 |
7. Ece Temelkuran (Turkey) | 72 |
8. Moya Bailey (Georgia, US) | 77 |
9. Asmaa Mahfouz (Egypt) | 81 |
10. Alma Caballero (Mexico) | 86 |
11. Nadia Murad (Iraq) | 89 |
12. Leymah Gbowee (Liberia) | 93 |
13. Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe/US) | 97 |
14. Malalai Joya (Afghanistan) | 100 |
15. Risa Hontiveros (Philippines) | 106 |
16. Wu Qing (Beijing, China) | 109 |
17. Randa Jarrar (Chicago, US) | 112 |
18. Tawakkol Karman (Yemen) | 116 |
19. Norma Vázquez (Mexico) | 120 |
20. LaDonna Brave Bull (Sioux/US) | 124 |
21. Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala) | 128 |
22. Haneen Zoabi (Nazareth, Israel) | 132 |
23. Carmen Cruz (Puerto Rico) | 136 |
24. Phoolan Devi (India) | 140 |
25. Alice Walker (Georgia, US) | 145 |
26. Wangari Maathai (Kenya) | 151 |
27. Haunani-Kay Trask (Hawaiʻi/US) | 155 |
28. Loujain AlHathloul (Saudia Arabia) | 161 |
29. Berta Cáceres (Honduras) | 165 |
30. Assata Shakur (US/Cuba) | 169 |
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PART II - FORESISTAS of RESISTANCE |
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31. Queen Nzinga (Angola) | 178 |
32. Fang Weiyi (China) | 182 |
33. Sor Juana (Mexico) | 185 |
34. Queen Aliquippa (Seneca/US) | 190 |
35. Sojourner Truth (NY, US) | 194 |
36. Bamewawagezhikaquay (Ojibwe/US) | 202 |
37. Savitribai Phule (South Asia) | 207 |
38. Forten Women (PA, US) | 212 |
39. Harriet Tubman (MD, US) | 219 |
40. Dolores Jiménez (Mexico) | 228 |
41. Rokeya Hossain (South Asia) | 233 |
42. Raden Adjeng Kartini (Indonesia) | 238 |
43. Ida Bell Wells (MS, US) | 243 |
44. Bibi Khānom Astarābādi (Iran) | 251 |
45. Hiratsuka Raichō (Japan) | 255 |
46. Lucy Parsons (TX, US) | 260 |
47. Mirair Ngirmang (Palau) | 266 |
48. María Rivera (Peru) | 270 |
49. Yuri Kochiyama (CA, US) | 274 |
50. Lolita Lebrón (Puerto Rico) | 281 |
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ADDENDUM |
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Abolition & Women's Rights (US) | 289 |
Endnotes | 297 |
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