Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color. By Lorgia García-Peña. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2022.

Abstract

Lorgia García-Peña puts into one text the many conversations had by women of color, including me, in hushed voices in the hallways or offices of our institutions, with knowing, loving, and affirmative glances shared at meetings, and by way of informal mutual aid groups, coming together at kitchen tables. These are conversations that have helped faculty and students of color survive and thrive in spaces not built or imagined for us. García-Peña begins her book by naming this long history: “My writing comes from a place of deep gratitude and humility as I recognize all that I am as the result of a collective process of becoming that is informed by communal knowledge and shared imaginings” (p. 13).