No Is Not a Lonely Utterance
The Art and Activism of Complaining
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Publishing:17th Sep '26
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 17th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£25.00(9780241759271)
'Remarkable . . . this book is the hope that so many people are searching for' Zimmer Magazine
To complain is an intimate, dangerous act. Whether it’s speaking up about racism in the workplace or taking a stand against sexual harassment at university, the act of complaining to an institution can leave you isolated and undermined, all while the original injustice remains unresolved. Time and time again, we see these unanswered complaints compound to disastrous effect.
In No is Not a Lonely Utterance, Sara Ahmed dissects the anatomy of a complaint, revealing how institutions create hostile environments that stigmatize complainers, and charts a way we can listen to grievances with ‘feminist ears’: going beyond mere validation and seeking instead to address the root causes of injustice and inequality.
Weaving together testimonies from various walks of life, Ahmed shows us what we learn about the ways institutions exercise their power when complaints are raised, and indeed what we learn about our capacity to collectivize and create social bonds through complaint. In doing so, she inspires us to create better environments for our life’s work.
Ahmed merges her own experience with stories shared by other battle-scarred complainers... These stories bolster Ahmed’s cutting observations about the nefarious means by which power is maintained within institutions... Readers will find meaningful insight and support * Publishers Weekly *
Doesn’t simply celebrate complaints; it reimagines them as a form of resistance and recognition... Ahmed’s book is an insightful reminder: Sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease until it’s too late -- Natalie Haddad * Hyperallergic *
A must-read . . . Ahmed does an excellent job of calling the reader to action whilst pointing out that solidarity and resistance look like different things to different people -- Ashley * Glasgow Women's Library *
Remarkable . . . has the potential to generate real change. In a world that is so turbulent and unpredictable, this book is the hope that so many people are searching for -- Ellie Johnson * Zimmer Magazine *
Brilliantly rearticulates the feminist method of complaint as a necessary and productive daily inhabitation of the political . . . a loud and insistent demand for a more just world -- Jasbir Puar, author of The Right to Maim
Goes beyond the academy to our shared histories of dismissal and denial . . . In an act of solidarity and resistance, we all need to sign up to the complaint collective Ahmed suggests -- Pratibha Parmar, writer and filmmaker
Praise for Sara Ahmed -- - * : *
Sara Ahmed always has her finger on the pulse of the times -- Angela Davis
A brilliant feminist thinker... Ahmed moves from scene to scene with clarity, rage, and joy, building through each refrain to mark the brutal violence of everyday encounters -- Judith Butler
Clever and generous... has a talent for bringing her readers with her, without ever dumbing down or sugar-coating her politics, love of theory, or lived experience as a queer woman of colour -- Zora Simic * Inside Story *
ISBN: 9781802069341
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 200g
416 pages