Review of "What’s the Use?: On the Uses of Use" by Sara Ahmed (Duke University Press)
The last book in Ahmed’s terminological trilogy, 'What’s the Use' investigates a term rooted in quotidian routine: use. Her previous books in this series, 'The Promise of Happiness' (2010) and 'Willful Subjects' (2014), interrogate happiness and the will respectively. F...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cultural Studies Association
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Lateral |
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| Online Access: | https://csalateral.org/reviews/whats-the-use-ahmed-kinderthain/ |
| Summary: | The last book in Ahmed’s terminological trilogy, 'What’s the Use' investigates a term rooted in quotidian routine: use. Her previous books in this series, 'The Promise of Happiness' (2010) and 'Willful Subjects' (2014), interrogate happiness and the will respectively. Following her resignation from Goldsmiths University, 'What's the Use' highlights both the complexity of taking on use as a concrete project and the lasting effects of stopped university work. By leading the reader through an intellectual, philosophical, and educational history of "use," Ahmed attaches "use" and the human experience to diversity work in the university. With student and faculty complaints as her evidence, Ahmed provides heart-breaking, anxiety-inducing, enraging testimonials of systemic oppression, ignorance, and abuse in the university setting. 'What’s the Use' provides tangible practices for disrupting overused systemic oppression in a referential tome that can be used as both a study guide and a road map. |
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| ISSN: | 2469-4053 2469-4053 |