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emelynreads's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
I'm a baby abolitionist and at first this book seemed intimidating. The writing is chock full of information that demands attention however concepts were repeated in a way that was helpful for remembering.
Things that altered my thinking:
Things that altered my thinking:
- Visionary fiction and the role science fiction can have in shaping new realities
- Complexity science and how we can learn from nature how decentralized societies function
- Building deep trust and connection in one on one relationships with shared abolitionist virtues will fractal outward
Challenging in the best way!
11corvus11's review
5.0
The non-fiction entries of the emergent strategy series have been a real mixed bag for me. Strangely enough, many entries by the creator herself have left me unsatisfied. For that reason, I'm very glad that she has communicated with so many other contributors to the series, including Andrea J. Ritchie. I'm a big fan of Ritchie's work, so when I saw that Practicing New Worlds was coming out, I was excited to see what her contribution would look like. In the intro, adrienne marie brown mentions thinking that she and Ritchie were both part of the same struggle but in very different ways: in essence, Ritchie was doing the practice of legal struggle and systemic change while amb was involved in the imaginative side of things. Ritchie herself is more accustomed to organizing and writing that is very praxis based, always with a "10 point plan." However, two of them found that there was great overlap between these two things, emergent strategy being a huge influence on just how those plans and practices came to be. This, in my opinion, has resulted in one of the best- if not the best- entries in the nonfiction realm of the ES series.
If you are familiar with Ritchie's work, it will come as no surprise that this book provides a very well researched account of various conferences and practices of recent years. It is chock full of excellent quotes from a variety of artists and organizers. The emergent strategy side of things allows Ritchie to be more imaginative in her writing of this. I enjoyed seeing more of the creative side of Ritchie's work in this book. It resulted in the expression of many ideas about tactics that could be tried based on the wisdom gained from things that already have been. The abolitionist goals expressed in this text are equal parts ambitious and idealistic, while also being grounded and rational.
To offer one of many examples, I really enjoyed the way she talked about decolonization. I have found myself frustrated at how some of the discussions around decolonization seem to convey a falsehood that there are two poles: a complete return to exactly the way things were in the past or strict adherence to everything the way it is now. Ritchie discusses the importance of decolonization being a new world- not a return to some specific (often incorrectly homogenized) culture. Decolonization means creating a culture based on all experiences to date. I like this framing of it much better as it creates more space for healing and it makes much more sense to me as something that can actually happen. It is an idea of a world that indigenous people deserve including their whole selves.
Something else that stuck out to me was something that I really needed to hear at this point in my life. It's not a new idea, but the way Ritchie said it helped me to internalize it more. You may have heard the phrase, "kill the cop in your head." Ritchie talks about how the way we internalize things and speak to ourselves bleeds into the rest of culture. The voice in my head can be one of the cruelest things on the planet and I never want to treat others the way that voice sometimes treats me. This got through to me the importance of me combating that voice not only for my own wellbeing, but to prevent myself from becoming that voice and enacting that mistreatment on others.
Throughout all of the practices, there is a great deal of humility and space for mistakes. This is also extremely important and welcome in a culture where there can be a current a fear that any mistake is a death sentence for one's ability to be a "good" radical. We can make space for mistakes and growth without sacrificing accountability.
Ritchie also includes two visionary fiction stories, this is a really cool exercise. I may try it myself even though I am not a good fiction writer. The point is not to write a masterpiece but to see how creativity gives you ideas that you may not come up with in a strictly real world based thought process.
It was truly enjoyable to see Ritchie's strict attention to detail, organization, and research be combined with exercises of creativity and art. The entire thing is truly a labor of love and one of the biggest assets to the entire emergent strategy series.
This was also posted to my blog.
If you are familiar with Ritchie's work, it will come as no surprise that this book provides a very well researched account of various conferences and practices of recent years. It is chock full of excellent quotes from a variety of artists and organizers. The emergent strategy side of things allows Ritchie to be more imaginative in her writing of this. I enjoyed seeing more of the creative side of Ritchie's work in this book. It resulted in the expression of many ideas about tactics that could be tried based on the wisdom gained from things that already have been. The abolitionist goals expressed in this text are equal parts ambitious and idealistic, while also being grounded and rational.
To offer one of many examples, I really enjoyed the way she talked about decolonization. I have found myself frustrated at how some of the discussions around decolonization seem to convey a falsehood that there are two poles: a complete return to exactly the way things were in the past or strict adherence to everything the way it is now. Ritchie discusses the importance of decolonization being a new world- not a return to some specific (often incorrectly homogenized) culture. Decolonization means creating a culture based on all experiences to date. I like this framing of it much better as it creates more space for healing and it makes much more sense to me as something that can actually happen. It is an idea of a world that indigenous people deserve including their whole selves.
Something else that stuck out to me was something that I really needed to hear at this point in my life. It's not a new idea, but the way Ritchie said it helped me to internalize it more. You may have heard the phrase, "kill the cop in your head." Ritchie talks about how the way we internalize things and speak to ourselves bleeds into the rest of culture. The voice in my head can be one of the cruelest things on the planet and I never want to treat others the way that voice sometimes treats me. This got through to me the importance of me combating that voice not only for my own wellbeing, but to prevent myself from becoming that voice and enacting that mistreatment on others.
Throughout all of the practices, there is a great deal of humility and space for mistakes. This is also extremely important and welcome in a culture where there can be a current a fear that any mistake is a death sentence for one's ability to be a "good" radical. We can make space for mistakes and growth without sacrificing accountability.
Ritchie also includes two visionary fiction stories, this is a really cool exercise. I may try it myself even though I am not a good fiction writer. The point is not to write a masterpiece but to see how creativity gives you ideas that you may not come up with in a strictly real world based thought process.
It was truly enjoyable to see Ritchie's strict attention to detail, organization, and research be combined with exercises of creativity and art. The entire thing is truly a labor of love and one of the biggest assets to the entire emergent strategy series.
This was also posted to my blog.
madimomreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
jershkat's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Practicing New Worlds is a masterful that helps to guide readers through new and different ways of being in and making relations with the world. This book asks us to reflect upon our ways of making relations and finding how to create connections between ourselves and our community and how to cut out police. Practicing New Worlds is exactly what it says it is, a guide towards practicing the worlds we want to live in that focus on healing and helping rather than policing and surveilling.
polychromatic_hedgehog_parable's review
maybe ~2.75 stars; maybe I'll put that in after this gets more positive reviews so I don't drag down the rating but remember the vibe for myself.
it was fine. it seemed quite long for what it was. I'm not sure that it impacted me much at all.
* I was introduced to a valuable quote and wrote it down
* I have been thinking a lot about transfiguring the world through a focus on interpersonal relationships, and I have appreciated reading that section at the time I did
it might be interesting to consider what I could have gotten out of this book and what was preventing me from doing that. it's possible that I might have gotten more out of this at a different time.
it was fine. it seemed quite long for what it was. I'm not sure that it impacted me much at all.
* I was introduced to a valuable quote and wrote it down
* I have been thinking a lot about transfiguring the world through a focus on interpersonal relationships, and I have appreciated reading that section at the time I did
it might be interesting to consider what I could have gotten out of this book and what was preventing me from doing that. it's possible that I might have gotten more out of this at a different time.