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Christine Platt: Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less (Hardcover, 2021, Christine Platt) 4 stars

Forget the aesthetics of mainstream minimalism and discover a life of authenticity and intention with …

What I needed after Marie Kondo

4 stars

I randomly came across this audio book in my uni's collection. I first learned about Marie Kondo first came out in 2014. Since middle school, I have been vertical folding, and have been notoriously known for having organized collections. Much of the specifics I have forgotten since then, but it motivated something special in me about my own spaces, though in combination with cultural expectations, many of those initial words of advice have become diluted. Yet as I've distanced from it along with the ways it's been tied into trauma, with her own Netflix show, Kondo has become as popular as ever.

The Afrominimalist is well aware of these trends and is what I needed to ground myself in what minimalism means to me and my cultures. The Afrominimalist looks at the context of why our spending and owning habits have formed to what they are today, and how we engage intentionally with what should come next. Furthermore, it considers minimalism not just from an environmentalist perspective but from an environmental justice perspective, considering the impacts of what we buy on labor and the natural world. I'm in the process of planning a move in a few months, and it'll be an important time for me to sort through everything I've got and decide what I'll be taking with me into a new chapter of my life where I want to stay true to myself. I will definitely be reflecting on the questions posed in this book. I also liked the featured contributions that were incorporated into this book, showcasing multiple perspectives, interpretations, and relationships that are all valid in this dialogue.