Overview

In Sensuous Knowledge, Minna Salami draws on Africa-centric, feminist-first and artistic traditions to help us rediscover inclusive and invigorating ways of experiencing the world afresh. Combining the playfulness of a storyteller with the insight of a social critic, the book pries apart the systems of power and privilege that have dominated ways of thinking for centuries – and which have led to so much division, prejudice and damage. And it puts forward a new, sensuous, approach to knowledge: one grounded in a host of global perspectives – from Black Feminism to personal narrative, pop culture to high art, Western philosophy to African mythology – together comprising a vision of hope for a fragmented world riven by crisis. Through the prism of this new knowledge, Salami offers fresh insights into the key cultural issues that affect women’s lives. How are we to view Sisterhood, Motherhood or even Womanhood itself? What is Power and why do we conceive of Beauty? How does one achieve Liberation? She asks women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male-centric biases, and build a house themselves – a home that can nurture us all. Sensuous Knowledge confirms Minna Salami as one the most important spokespeople of today, and the arrival of a blistering new literary voice.

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9781786995261

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Reviews

Emphasises the revolutionary power of joy … [Minna Salami] writes sympathetically about the cumulative effects of gender, race, class and ableism with regard to social injustice. * 3:AM Magazine * Sensuous Knowledge by Minna Salami critically details the origins of power as we know it. It assesses power systems on a global scale through Minna’s experience of living in different corners of the earth. * Remireports * The book helps us understand what is feminist and vital about African philosophies of power and embodiment. It excavates African cosmologies, history, and art for ideas on rethinking the body, beauty, power, womanhood, and more ... One of many things we love about the book is the fact that it is addressed to everybody. Salami has a universal gospel to spread. * Brittle Paper * I am firmly convinced that the way to true equality and justice for all will be on a radical Black queer feminist road; Sensuous Knowledge is Ms. Afropolitan Minna Salami’s insightful contribution to our success. * Ms Magazine * ‘A timely, refreshing, nourishing and captivating read. In the era of ever-widening division and cultural strife, Sensuous Knowledge urges us to rethink power, sisterhood, beauty, Identity and more. A crucial read which through the sharing of African-centered approaches alleviate political and social frustrations. On these pages there really is something to learn for everyone. * Ayishat Akanbi, writer and cultural commentator * Sensuous Knowledge is a probing, challenging and imaginative book that dares position black feminism as the prism through which we can all better experience and understand the world. I read it slowly, savouring it as intellectual soul food, while relishing the richness of Minna Salami's ideas and the persuasiveness of her writing. This book is an important addition to the feminist canon in that it shifts our world view and introduces new and exciting possibilities for ways of being that feel liberating. * Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other * In this provocative and vital book, Minna Salami, in elegant prose and lucid arguments, centers the black female body and experience at the heart of global feminist discourse. Employing African myth, religious and cultural traditions, the historical presences and accomplishments of women in African history and spaces of power, and the modes and practices of feminism from the continent, she interrogates the facts of history. Accounting for the omissions for and by patriarchy, adjusting for the neglect of white feminism, she confronts the central privilege of modern thought, which is that men represent the default human experience. She attempts a new way of thinking, cataloging, archiving, and accounting for black female experiences by black women in this new century. Inclusive, rigorous in process and thought, she has created a strong and important testament, the map perhaps, for now and the future. * Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas and The Virgin of Flames * 'Sensuous Knowledge is an opulent symphony of progressive ideas, vast and astonishing as it is detailed and specific, from one who has lived multiple lives and realities. Drawing from Audre Lorde to Socrates, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, to Nipsey Hustle, Orunmila to Gloria Steinem and so many more, Minna Salami mixes her lived experience into a deeply considered and tempered tide that swells with wisdom, that challenges, defines and redefines various parts of our unbalanced and gendered world. It is an emotive text, that emanates with love, which, by looking at who we have been and how we became, begs us to search ourselves for who we might yet become. * Inua Ellams, poet & playwright * 'This book is an eloquent mélange of ideas and disciplines; part deep, intersectional analysis of structural power, part metaphysical journey into a genius the West hasn’t given language to. An essential read for a new decade. * Johny Pitts, author of Afropean: Notes from Black Europe *

'In this provocative and vital book, Minna Salami, in elegant prose and lucid arguments, centers the black female body and experience at the heart of global feminist discourse. Employing African myth, religious and cultural traditions, the historical presences and accomplishments of women in African history and spaces of power, and the modes and practices of feminism from the continent, she interrogates the facts of history. Accounting for the omissions for and by patriarchy, adjusting for the neglect of white feminism, she confronts the central privilege of modern thought, which is that men represent the default human experience. She attempts a new way of thinking, cataloging, archiving, and accounting for black female experiences by black women in this new century. Inclusive, rigorous in process and thought, she has created a strong and important testament, the map perhaps, for now and the future.'Chris Abani

Author Information

Minna Salami is a blogger, and social critic, and lecturer. She is the founder of the multiple award-winning blog MsAfropolitan, and her work is published in numerous publications. She sits on the advisory board of the African Feminist Initiative at Pennsylvania State University and the editorial board of the Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Sahel. Minna is listed as one of 12 women changing the world by ELLE Magazine. She lives in London and regularly visits the United States.

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