FBC Summer Reading: Ain't I a Woman - Black Women and Feminism

Bell Hook's Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

"This landmark work challenges every accepted notion about the nature of black women's lives. All progressive struggles are significant only when taking place within a feminist movement, which states that race class & sex are immutable facts of exist."

I've been meaning to read Bell Hooks for a while now, and as we haven't really discussed the exclusion of black women in second-wave feminism, it would definitely bring up some interesting ideas to reflect on. Other possible books by Bell Hooks we could read this summer are, "Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics," "Feminist Theory from Margin to Center,"Communion: The Female Search for Love."

FBC Summer Reading: Gender Trouble

Judith Butler's Gender Trouble

"Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the politics of sexuality in culture. This is the text where Judith Butler began to advance the ideas that would go on to take life as "performativity theory," as well as some of the first articulations of the possibility for subversive gender practices, and she writes in her preface to the 10th anniversary edition released in 1999 that one point of Gender Trouble was "not to prescribe a new gendered way of life [...] but to open up the field of possibility for gender [...]" Widely taught, and widely debated, Gender Trouble continues to offer a powerful critique of heteronormativity and of the function of gender in the modern world."

FBC Summer Reading: The Bell Jar

I've already read this novel two times, heavily relating to it as a teenager. I feel it would be interesting to discuss as a group because of how autobiographical the story is and because of the immense feminist following Sylvia Plath had after her death and the feminist loathing of her husband, Ted Hughes.

"Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s. The real Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity."

We could even look at some of her poems like "Daddy."

FBC Summer Reading: Orlando

My first summer reading suggestion for the FBC is 'Orlando' by Virginia Woolf.

"Written for Virginia Woolf's intimate friend, the charismatic, bisexual, writer Vita Sackville-West, Orlando is a playful mock 'biography' of a chameleon-like historical figure who changes sex and identity at will. First masculine, then feminine, Orlando begins life as a young sixteenth-century nobleman, then gallops through three centuries to end up as a woman writer in Virginia Woolf's present day."

FBC Summer Reading!

With another year of art school under our belt, we can now enjoy four whole months of freedom!

I figured with all of the extra time we’ve got, why not keep the book club going throughout the summer? So that’s what we’re going to do folks. Keep it going.

Over the next two weeks, feel free to post some books/short-stories/magazine articles/movies/etc you think the FBC should be looking at over the course of the summer. Depending on the number of blogger responses to the posted submissions, we’ll decide as a group what books we should be reading and discussing this summer over the blog and in person. Submit whatever you’d like!

Also… I recently joined GoodReads, and recommend it for keeping track of the books you’ve been reading, and finding new books!

Happy reading!

I think that this is worth reiterating

Justin Waddell was nice enough to post this little bit of awesomeness to the FBC face book page. It’s about how Anya Liftig, a young performance artist in New York, played stare down with Marina Abramovic during her performance the artist is present at MoMA. I have a bit of an infatuation with Marina Abramovic, and I think that Liftig’s idea was brilliant. Worth a read.

Also, if your not in the know, just search Feminist Bookclub on facebook to find us 