A Renaissance of Our Own

Description

A deeply personal and illuminating approach to antiracism and allyship, revealing the power of imagination and action to dismantle oppressive systems and build liberating ones, from a highly lauded lecturer, public academic, writer, and activist.In A Renaissance of Our Own, Rachel Cargle details the seminal event that put her on the map—her viral 2017 Women’s March appearance that thrust her into the national conversation on feminism and allyship—and how she soon woke up to the fallacies of a movement she had believed in. Discovering and unpacking the white-washed lies she’d been fed about intersectional “solidarity,” Cargle’s awakening, although painful and seismic, gifted her the opportunity to see the world through a new lens.
Now, Cargle shares her journey, depicting a framework for allyship, and beyond, that she developed along the way. In creating KEA (Knowledge, Empathy, Action), or as she calls them “from the head to the heart to the feet,” Cargle learned to craft a world independent of oppressive constructs that allowed her to critically examine her surroundings. Alongside KEA, she established a set of intentional values based on an individual sense of purpose, known as higher values, and through the combination of these tools, reimagined her approach to the personal, societal, and structural components of life that are often stifled. She provides the same tools and prompts that she used to unearth and align her own values so anyone can wield them, and ultimately, identify the structures and mindsets that hold them back and learn to move forward.
A Renaissance of Our Own serves as a reminder of the power of reimagining as an engine for critical learning, radical empathizing, and intentional action. Rachel Cargle is an Akron, Ohio-born public academic, writer, and lecturer working at the intersection of race and womanhood. She is the creator of The Great Unlearn, an online learning space that provides resources and critical discourse with a monthly curriculum taught by Black academics and thinkers whose work points toward a more equitable future. She is also the founder of Elizabeth’s of Akron, a bookstore and writing center that promotes, amplifies, and celebrates marginalized voices, and she founded The Loveland Foundation, Inc., which offers free mental health care through the Therapy Fund for Black women and girls. US

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