What if doubt, hesitation and ambivalence werent barriers to activism but powerful tools for change?
Challenging the idea that activism is fuelled only by anger or hope, this bold collection explores how activists across anti-racism, climate justice and mental health navigate uncertainty to sustain their work. Blending scholarship with on-the-ground perspectives, this book highlights ambivalence not as a weakness but as a dynamic force.
This is essential reading for anyone engaged in activism or emotional research, redefining what it means to feel and act for justice in a complex world.
Arvustused
Ambivalence is pervasive in activism but has far too long been neglected by scholars. This important and original collection explores the potential of ambivalence in a wide range of contexts Silke Roth, University of Southampton
Introduction: Ambivalent ActivismWorking with Contradiction, Hesitation
and Doubt for Social Change - Akwugo Emejulu, Marlies Kustatscher and Callum
McGregor
Part 1: Theorizing Ambivalence
1. Ambivalence as Misfeeling, Ambivalence as Refusal - Akwugo Emejulu
2. On (Not) Knowing What Is to Be Done (in 17 Affective Registers) - Deborah
Gould
3. Facing Defeat: Rosa Luxemburg in Dialogue with Prefigurative Politics -
Maa Mrovlje
4. Orchestrating the Furies: Anzaldúas Evolving Conception of Ambivalent
Political Struggle - Alyson Cole
Part 2: Activism as Ambivalent Praxis
5. An Activism of the In-Between - Melody Howse
6. Resisting with People I Dont Like: Exploring the Internal Tensions Among
Queer Activists in Lagos, Nigeria - Adebayo Quadry-Adekanbi
7. Ambivalent Activism: Re-Contextualizing Mental Health Politics - Hel
Spandler, Dina Poursanidou and Sonia Soans
8. Ambivalence and Veganism: Rethinking Sentiment in Moral Choices - Jordan
McKenzie and Zoei Sutton
9. The Embroidery Collective: Embroidering and Reimagining Community in Times
of Struggle - Cristina Florescu
10. Ambivalent Emotions Empowering Activism: Learning from Youth Activists in
Aotearoa - Carisa R. Showden and Karen Nairn
Part 3: Activism and the Ambivalent Academy
11. Working with Discomfort: Contesting Ambivalence Through Care and
Accountability in the University of Edinburghs Skull Room - Nicole
Anderson
12. The Poetry of Ambivalence: A Nudge toward Tending - Roxani Krystalli
13. The Role of Stuckedness: Ambivalence in Scholar-Activism - Aylwyn Walsh
and Paul Routledge
Conclusion: Thinking with Pessimism - Akwugo Emejulu, Marlies Kustatscher and
Callum McGregor
Akwugo Emejulu is Chair of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield.
Marlies Kustatscher is Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies at Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh.
Callum McGregor is Lecturer in Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh.
