Embrace Women's History Month! Awesome, Inspirational Feminist Texts to Challenge You

Carrier Bags and Feminist Citation Theory

 

As it's Women's History Month, we're sharing a couple of academic related feminist texts  that one of our library colleagues has found really influential in his academic pursuits.

 

Ursula K Le Guin: Image from Wikipedia

First comes Ursual K Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

Are you tired of the same old stories - Western, patriarchal hero-quests, which start at the beginning and work towards a nice, tidy conclusion? Science fiction writer and feminist academic Ursula K. Le Guin will address your frustrations.

This essay proposes an alternative way of telling stories and experiencing the world -  a cyclical, heterogeneous approach. This alternative works to subvert a male-centric, linear mode which takes its cue from the violent, goal-driven philosophy of a predatory hunter (no thanks!). The carrier bag theory shows us how we might create from a feminist point of view which values collecting different experiences and stories, moving backwards and forwards in time, and not necessarily shooting the bear with the arrow. Whether you are writing music, directing a film, or planning your next performance, this essay might change your whole perspective!



Sarah Ahmed - image from TheOtherMcCain.com

And here is Making Feminist Points, by Sara Ahmed, dealing with feminist citation theory. 

In Making Feminist Points, Sara Ahmed reflects on her own experiences in order to critique the prevalence of male writers in academic citation and the bias towards male theorists in academia. Her website features a variety of thought-provoking posts on feminist issues in academic institutions, including a striking analysis of the use of ‘diversity’ as a smokescreen to distract from institutional racism.


 

Are You Multi-Talented? Do You Write Fiction?

The Narrative iStory Contest

 

CLICK HERE:-

 

http://www.narrativemagazine.com/iStory-Contest

 

 

We were sent details of this competition, so we share it for anyone out there who writes fiction.  Good luck!

Bookyap - book recommendations

WEBSITE REVIEW

Bookyap offers to find books that you'll like.  Specify your subject, or say what you like.

'Whittaker' tried it out for you:-

• 1st search: I don't know how she does it.  A humorous book about a working mother, by Allison Pearson.  And what did Bookyap find?  I don't know how she does it.  (Not very clever!)
• 2nd search: Scottish Enlightenment.  This time, Bookyap found 13 books, and they were exactly what I wanted.
• 3rd search: Mozart opera.  27 matches, again an interesting selection.
• 4th search: Chekhov plays.  13 matches. 
• 5th search: no.1 ladies detective agency.  Results: the whole series.

To summarise - all three subject searches have been interesting.  Better than a library catalogue, though?  Hard to say!  As for the "Say what you like" search, maybe I'd have been more successful if my fiction preferences were more mainstream.  See what you think!