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namnatulco

namnatulco@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 1 month ago

@namnatulco@sueden.social

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finished reading Constructing Brexit Britain by Tamsin Parnell (Corpus and Discourse)

Tamsin Parnell: Constructing Brexit Britain (Hardcover, Bloomsbury) No rating

It's a PhD thesis in a field I have no formal relationship with, so I won't even try to summarize. Given that background though, I found it surprisingly easy to read and follow for a general audience. The focus was more political science than I had expected (I'm not sure what exactly, but I guess I was kinda expecting lots of math/theoretical linguistics/argumentation theory or something along those lines). Brexit and Brexit discourse being one of the few political events I loosely followed during this time, this book provides scientific backing for many vague assumptions and presuppositions I had about the attitudes towards it.

I skipped the details of the second and third analysis, which are probably of interest for those specifically engaged in similar or related research, but not that exciting for a casual reader such as myself.

finished reading How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi, Alina Schmidt: How to Be an Antiracist (Paperback, German language, 2022, btb Verlag) 4 stars

German translation of the original

The translation into German is quite sloppy (some of the notes were just forgotten and there were lots of editing mistakes) - what I think bugged me most about it is the inconsistent use of N* as a replacement for the N word (significant sections use several variations of the N word). In terms of content, though, it's a great introduction to find an answer to what it means to be an anti racist (which honestly would probably have been a more accurate title). I found the last sections that use cancer analogies a bit off, though I can't put my finger on why specifically. Overall I think it's worth reading, what I enjoyed most was the discussion of what radical change means (as opposed to radical rhetoric) and how radical and anti racist groups should apply self reflection to their anti racism. Another important takeaway from the history sections …

finished reading Klasse Krise Weltcommune by Freundinnen und Freunde der klassenlosen Gesellschaft

Freundinnen und Freunde der klassenlosen Gesellschaft: Klasse Krise Weltcommune (Paperback, German language, Edition Nautilus) No rating

This one was... Kinda depressing? It hits a number of modern radical left notes - library socialism, though not under that name; decentralized organization through high tech, though it doesn't call it solarpunk - but comes at things from (for me) very weird (presumably decades deep Marxist and communist theory) angles. The bits on gender are extremely weak, I found the economic theory weak (but I'm not well informed) and it seems to drive a deep divide between reformism and the anarchist "build the new world within the old" that I feel is totally unexplained. Overall I'd say it's a mixed bag.

finished reading Rechte Ränder by Zeev Sternhell

Gideon Botch, Friedrich Burschel, Christoph Kopke, Felix Korsch, Zeev Sternhell, Volker Weiß, Helmut Kellershohn, Fabian Virchow, Sebastian Friedrich, David Begrich, Richard Gebhardt, Susanne Feustel, Andreas Speit, Andrea Röpke, Bernhard Schmid, Erich Später, Caro Keller: Rechte Ränder (Paperback, German language, Verbrecher Verlag) No rating

Dickes Brett. Gutes Buch. Beiträge aus ein ganzes Spektrum verschiedener antifaschistischen Aktivitäten, von akademischen jüdischen Historiker über die Dokumentation der Kooperation zwischen Rechte und Corona-Leugner*innen bis zur Erinnerungskultur des NSU-Watch. Über Ähnlichkeiten und Differenzen zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland. Über die Antimoderne, über frühe anarchistische Bewegungen, über die Hintergründe und das Fortbestehen des Faschismus. Allesamt spannend.

finished reading Transgender History by Susan Stryker

Susan Stryker: Transgender History (Paperback, 2017, Seal Press) 5 stars

Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological …

Well, that was a weird one. I have mixed feelings about this book, particularly the fact that the layout seems broken in many places (pictures and information blocks are often misplaced and match topics discussed five pages earlier or later). Being trans, a lot of the history was fairly familiar; one thing the book does really well is placing those facts in the larger historical context (as well as their relative context). I find it extremely jarring that the book uses the term transsexual to refer to people that undergo medical transition for most of the book (though to be fair, the fluidity of terminology is explicitly addressed at the start of the book). The main thing I'd say I've learned is just how transphobic the American* LGB-movement was throughout the years, which puts current day developments in a new perspective.

After the time covered by the book (which is …

finished reading Gentrifidingsbums - oder eine Stadt für alle by Christoph Twickel

Christoph Twickel: Gentrifidingsbums - oder eine Stadt für alle (German language) No rating

To a significant extent, this is an expanded version of this manifesto: wiki.rechtaufstadt.net/index.php/Manifest_Not_In_Our_Name,_Marke_Hamburg! I think the discussion/interview in chapter 6 was useful; beyond that I got some Hamburg history out of it. In terms of the main subject matter (gentrification), I got a lot less out of it than I had hoped. I think it serves as a nice introduction with a specific, detailed example, but I don't think it's argumentatively solid enough to convince people. Finally, for a work claiming to take an activist perspective, there is frustratingly little political commentary or praxis in it.

All that being said, if you're looking for a fairly short overview, this might be the book for you.