Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Annelie Geissler
Categories
Psychology

REIMAGINING RESILIENCE

Soraya Chemaly

Why We Should Say No to Toxic Grit, Endless Positivity, and Untenable Strenght

For readers of The Body Keeps the Score and The Myth of Normal, this is a powerful manifesto that makes the case for resilience based in community and care, rather than individualist mantras of grit and toxic positivity, told through a kaleidoscopic investigation of the history, social science, psychology, and personal narratives behind how we handle trauma.

In this thought-provoking exploration, cultural critic Soraya Chemaly challenges our most dearly held and common myths of resilience and urges us to shift our perspective from individualized traits and skills to collective care and open-ended connections with the world. Chemaly dismantles the notion of resilience rooted in mind over matter, "mental toughness," "strength," and "positive thinking," to illuminate true resilience as a social capacity and collective virtue that arises from our fragility and the interdependence and nurturing relationships that sustain us. In an era of sustained, accelerated, and overlapping crises, REIMAGINING RESILIENCE challenges us to adapt our thinking about how we adapt. It offers alternative visions of relational resilience, emphasizing care for others, living beings, and our environments. By prioritizing compassion, creativity, and connection, this book ignites essential conversations about fostering resilience for all, not just for those who can afford it. Soraya Chemaly is the author of RAGE BECOMES HER, and an award-winning writer and activist whose work focuses on the role of gender in culture, politics, religion, and media. She is the Director of the Women's Media Center Speech Project and an advocate for women's freedom of expression and expanded civic and political engagement. A prolific writer and speaker, her articles appear in Time, the Verge, The Guardian, The Nation, HuffPost, and The Atlantic. Follow her on Twitter at @SChemaly and learn more at SorayaChemaly.com.

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Book Published 2024-05-21 by Atria/ One Signal

Comments

There is a growing knowledge gap "between what we need to achieve resilient outcomes and what we are culturally told we need," according to this ambitious study from feminist and free speech activist Chemaly (Rage Becomes Her). Using a feminist and anticapitalistic framework to interrogate notions of resilience, the author posits that traditionally "male" values of rigid self-sufficiency can serve to isolate. As an alternative, she touts the use of "social connections, collaborative care, and shared resources" to adapt to challenges. (For example, she cites the pandemic-era refusal of masks and vaccines as proof of the sometimes "maladaptive" values of individualistic strength, with the disease disproportionately affecting the older white men who were most likely to reject preventive measures.) Elsewhere, she claims that corporate America's "grind culture" impairs resilience; that expectations to "bounce back" after crises impede long-term healing; and that feeling "safe" in one's body is key to facing the "uncertainty of anxiety-provoking life changes." While those seeking actionable guidance might become frustrated with Chemaly's tendency to think in broad strokes, readers who welcome a more conceptual take will appreciate her rigorous efforts to set forth an expansive view of resilience as adaptation. This is sure to spark conversation. (May)

An activist upends prevailing notions about the nature of resilience. Current ideas about how to move forward from adversity stem from the belief that "self-sufficiency, mental toughness [and] strength" are the keys to overcoming hardship. However, Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her, suggests that true resilience emerges from cultivating "mutual dependence and interconnectedness" with others. She cites one case study that involved a group of nearly 700 Hawaiian children. Even though they grew up in adverse circumstances, by seeking community in schools, religious institutions, and the military and turning to psychotherapy, group members were able to thrive. Chemaly suggests that because American society is so obsessed with maintaining profitability and productivity regardless of circumstances, people struggle. "Resilience today is frequently defined in [a] trajectory from grief to happiness with productivity nestled in the middle," she writes. Soldiering on in the face of difficulties is expected. Admitting vulnerability, the way tennis champion Naomi Osaka did when she withdrew from the French Open in 2021 to protect her mental health, can lead to being stigmatized as weak. Such notions are harmfulas is the idea that resilience is just a matter "bouncing back," which Chemaly argues is not only a fantasy, but a reflection of "modernity and its temporal requirements." Like the concept of soldiering on, "bouncing back" is an idea that focuses on positive future outcomes while glossing over the fact that it implies a return to "pre-existing and highly undesirable alienation." The only way out of this trapwhich the author sees as an outgrowth of capitalistic excessis rethinking resilience in terms of an ethic that includes caring, connection, and kindness. Thoughtful and well argued, this book offers a humane vision of the ways people must adapt their ideas of what it means to thrive to a radically changing world. Provocative, necessary reading.

Are you ready to challenge your perceptions of resilience, adaptability, and how we navigate change and adversity? Get ready to embark on a thought-provoking journey with our latest release, The Resilence Myth.