My name is Sara Ahmed, and this is my research blog. I am a feminist killjoy. It is what I do. It is how I think. It is my philosophy and my politics.
I am now working as an independent feminist scholar and writer. You can find my cv, links to my articles, description of my new projects, details of forthcoming lectures and information on all of my books on my personal website. If you need to get in touch with me please fill in my contact form.
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Dear Sarah. Your blog reminds me of the reference that Gurcharan Das makes to the ‘immorality of silence’ (p. 59) – The Difficulty of Being Good (Penguin, New Delhi, 2009). It also reminds me of the reference that Das makes to Kant – ‘out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made, nothing entirely straight can be built’.
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Hi Sara
Where can I order your book? The link here says “Not in stock”
Hi Annalie sorry it’s not out till early 2017 Sara
Sara I salute your courage. It is shocking that such bravery is still needed to draw attention to this institutional cover up of sexual harassment. Back in the seventies when as sociology teachers and researchers we began to share our own experiences of sexual harassment- particularly but not only – as students, we also began to learn from our students how widespread this was. What is so shocking is that despite legislation, women’s studies, feminist studies and gender studies to say nothing of the appointment of equalities officers in many universities is that the silence continues.
Back then we had few weapons except the political and this we used. In one university a young male lecturer broke his student girl friend’s arm. In another a lecturer who, enraged that his student girl friend wanted to end the relationship, knocked her to the ground and kicked her so badly that her bruises lasted for six weeks. Again the silence. As the student was too afraid to lodge a complaint to the university, or report the incident to the police, a small group of the abuser’s colleagues told him that his continued presence as a teacher was unacceptable and that they would search for ways to bring him to justice until thay succeeded. The point was taken and he resigned.
It is worth adding that among the group was one man who took both his professional ethics and his commitment to feminism seriously.
I am in my eighties and many of my feminist colleagues who fought that battle then, are now dead, but I know the rage that that that generation would feel if they knew that almost half a century later that Sara’s brave action is needed. Dear sisters and feminist men to honour Sara’s action you ( alas I can now only cheer from the sidelines) must intensify the struggle and win.
Dear Sara,
Thank you for all your work, which we enjoy reading here in Ohio. When you are again taking engagements, please get in touch because we would love to host you in a way you find supportive.
Greggor Mattson, Oberlin College, Gender Sexuality and Feminist Studies gmattson @ oberlin.edu
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Dear Dr. Ahmed,
We would like to invite you to give the opening lecture at a conference at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). If you are interested and/or want to know more, please, send me an email.
Best wishes,
Jorge Sacido-Romero
Hello, you can still email me at Goldsmiths s.ahmed@gold.ac.uk, but I am not scheduling any more travel for 2017 Thanks Sara
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Thank you *so much* for this blog! It’s one of my absolute favorites to follow, as I say here: . Deeply appreciative for your work and writing in the world.
Thank you *so much* for this blog! It’s one of my absolute favorites to follow, as I say here: . Deeply appreciative for your work and writing in the world.
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Dear Sara Ahmed
Thank you for writing this book. The easy style, the humor, the manner in which you cite (first name last name) make it a joy to read. You have rhyme too… speculate, accumulate, citational, relational… How wonderful!
The chapter on Brick Walls is generally applicable… institutions, families – nuclear or extended, communities especially plural ones, etc. Well worth reading for anyone trying to make a change.
The section on academic walls is just outstanding. Thank you!
At some point I was reminded of Bertha Wilson (former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada) who speaks of “the trap of an asexual abstraction in which human being is always declined in the masculine”.
(Will Women Judges Really Make a Difference?, the Fourth Annual Barbara Betcherman Memorial Lecture, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, February 8, 1990).
I was also reminded of Thurgood Marshall ((former Justice of the Supreme Court of the US) rephrasing “We the People…” to “We the people are no longer enslaved”
(“The Constitution: A Living Document”, Remarks at the Annual Seminar of the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Conference, Maui, Hawaii, May 6, 1987 in Thurgood Marshall’s Supreme Justice: Speeches and Writings, edited by J. Clay Smith, Jr., Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003, page 284).
Thank you, take care and look forward to reading more.
Shamas Nanji
Dear Sara
For awhile ago when i was reading your blog i saw a passage when you were talking about how one of your most uncomfortable moments within the academy have been when you are asking, who is invited, who are not invited and so on…i need the exact reference to that passage and have gone through most part of your blog but was unable to find it. can you help me with that_
I am very grateful if you can do it.
my address is fataneh.farahani@etnologi.su.se
many thanks
I think that is from ‘making feminist points’
Hey Sara, I was present at Lahore skype call for your book Living a Feminist Life, your work has literally been so therapeutic for me and just helped me unlearn so much about what it means to be living a queer life so thank you for all your efforts… hope we can arrange another skype session.
Best
So glad to hear it has been helpful. Hope we can skype again!
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Hi Sara, I’ve been reading your books and blogs for a little over a year now and I just wanted to say thank you. You’ve helped me find the courage to disrupt spaces that are problematic and build alliances with other people. Talking about your writing with my friends and mentors has been so so valuable for me.
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Love you work!
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Dear Dr Ahmed(I am not sure if I should call you by your first name, because in India, grad students are not allowed to be familiar with senior academics on a first-name basis), thank you for your blog. I have been a long-time subscriber of your blog, and today, I finally mustered the courage to comment. Your latest post, “The Complainer as Carceral Feminist” was too relatable for a young Indian girl in her early twenties, who has just started navigating her way through the murky labyrinth of academia, often falling prey to unsolicited advances by privileged predators disguised as esteemed professors, researchers and what not. Coincidence or not, I had been labelled “psychotic” by a senior academic for firmly establishing my boundaries and not allowing myself to be seduced by him into being another of his sexual conquests. You reaffirmed my faith in my decision, that I did the right thing by calling the bluff of a privileged, upper-class, man educated in a prestigious institution in a first world country, who thought he was entitled to manipulating early career women researchers into sleeping with him. Thank you, once again, for everything.
Thank you so much for your comment, and sorry for the delay in responding. I am sending my solidarity to you Debadrita! All best Sara
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