Non-noyées : Leçons féministes noires apprises auprès des mammifères marines

by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Emma Bigé (translator)

Non-noyées est un livre de méditation pour soutenir les mouvements sociaux, un manuel de dé-noyade indispensable, basé sur les enseignements subversifs et transformateurs des mammifères marines. Nos cousines aquatiques sont queers, féroces, complexes, façonnées par les conflits et en lutte pour survivre aux conditions extractivistes et militarisées que le capitalisme a imposé à l’océan.

Gumbs utilise un brillant mélange de sensibilité poétique et d’observations scientifiques pour montrer ce qu’elles pourraient nous apprendre, produisant non pas un programme fixe, mais un espace de déploiement pour se questionner. Si nous nous mettons à les écouter, les baleines Noires de l’Atlantique du Nord, les dauphins d’eau douce, les phoques à capuchon, pourraient devenir les guides privilégiées des combats décoloniaux et anticapitalistes à mener. C’est une utilisation magistrale de la poésie au service de la justice sociale et des solidarités inter-espèces.

En coédition avec Burn~Août

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Poetry, Social Justice, Nature, Queer, Essays

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2020

About the author

Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a poet, independent scholar, and activist. She is author of Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity and coeditor of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines and the Founder and Director of Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind, an educational program based in Durham, North Carolina.

Reviews

[David Wineberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Undrowned is an intriguing title. Alexis Gumbs has a wonderfully deep knowledge of sea mammals, and this book is meant to be anthropomorphic; how those mammals duplicate or inspire human equivalent activities. How we can or maybe even should see ourselves in the activities of sea mammals. It doesn’t work.

The 20 short chapters take activities and aspects of sea mammals and project them onto humans. For example, Gumbs talks about dorsal fins and how they aid in stability for dolphins and other sea mammals. She says she would like to have a dorsal fin stabilizing her life. It is dorsal fin envy, but so what?

Gumbs is very up front about herself: queer, black, feminist, Caribbean. I really wanted her to leverage those things into an entirely new perspective. But it didn’t work. Even when she specifically sets up a chapter on feminism or race, the comparison to the sea mammal world is empty. Nothing she says doesn’t also apply to everyone. Or to no one. The connections to being black, queer and feminist are never made, unless you count the dolphins who buddy up with a same sex friend for life. Best friend for life is not evidence of sea mammals being queer or serving as a lesson for humans.

For a brief moment, it appeared she was going to dive deep: “Legally and narratively, our society encourages small, isolated family units and anti-social state reluctant to care.” But she leaves that thought dangling and does not elaborate. Some sea mammals collectivize. Some mothers adopt orphans and even develop lactation for them. And so…?

Her knowledge of the very many different kinds of dolphins alone is inspiring. The facts she puts on display about how they live is a wonder. But she never leverages them into being black, feminist or queer. While knowledge of sea mammals is profound, her display of societal ills is naïve by comparison. And for all the physical descriptions, the book offers not a single image to show readers what she is referring to.

Instead, there is a lot of the word love. Gumbs loves readers and she wants them to know that, firmly, explicitly and repeatedly. And unnecessarily.

I came away not knowing what the point of it all was, and I cannot say who the book is directed to. To me, that is a failure.

David Wineberg

[Dr. Breeze Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading Undrowned and it was phenomenal.

Undrowned is a Black feminist perspective on what marine mammals have taught the author.

Throughout the book connections are made to the atrocity of enslavement via the space of the Middle Passage (Atlantic Ocean) and the normalized logic of colonialist and supremacist ideologies...

The author focuses much on how non-human mammals such as otters, whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions have been affected by ecocidal ideologies that are rooted in colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism. But, the book is not depressing or hopeless...

Instead, the book is focused on how these marine are our "brethren"; that they teach us better ways to fight, resist, be incognito at times, and struggle for the right to exist and to "breath"--- against supremacy, domination, capitalism, and exploitation... And throughout the book, it's implied again and again---> What can us [Black folk and others so deeply impacted by colonialism and enslavement or genocide] learn from these marine mammals so we can heal, be resilient, adapt, resist and eventually be whole again for our healthy futures?<---(not her quote but this is my own reflect). So, this is what I personally got out of her text: That there is hope and deep lessons to be learned from these mammals to teach us to continue to fight to be authentically ourselves, to breath, and do it unapologetically....

This book was absolutely brilliant, meditative, and deep. As a matter of fact, it is the first fusion of black feminism and marine conservation/liberation literature I have ever read that makes the connections to animal liberation for marine mammals AND racial justice/liberation for Black folk throughout the globe who have been affected by white supremacist-capitalist-colonialist "order of things" over the last 500 years; that it's all part of the same toxic system the is destroying the right to fully thrive for all beings.

[Bogi Takács]

Quickly adding because people asked: I loved this book and it was exactly what I needed at this point in life (even though I am much more of a marine invertebrates person :) ). A text full of heart and life. I hope to add more detailed comments soon!!!
_____
Source of the book: Bought with my own money (preorder directly from the press, it came with a pin!)

[Corvus · Rating 4 out of 5]

My immediate impression upon beginning to read Alexis Pauling Gumbs', "Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals," was that I could tell that the author is a poet. I have read a lot of books which focus on the intersections or overlaps with human experiences and that of other animals. Most of these come from a scientific or critical theory standpoint, which is a very different place than where this book comes from. Gumbs' poetic and abstract approach to discussions of human and marine mammal experiences is one I had not encountered before. I like that she mentions not being objective in the introduction as it is true that nothing humans ever do is completely objective. I share her criticisms of how scientists use "language of deviance and denigration" in studies of other animals as a good example of this. While scientific approaches take a great many measures to promote a more objective approach and this should definitely never be ignored, these things are often filtered through a subjective lens- one in which many human scientists- especially those invested in captive animal exploitation/research- create a narrative which reinforces human supremacy over other species. Don't let my paragraph here fool you, though. This is not really a book about science or why animal liberation is important. It is a book of meditations that are inspired by facts the author has learned about marine mammals. I admit, I didn't fully realize just what a woo woo sort of book this was going to be. It's clear in the blurb that it's a meditation, not a science or theory book though, so that's on me.

Although I have read and enjoyed Gumbs' writings in a variety of books and places, I did not fully realize just how much she has been involved in creating. She is, "a founding member of UBUNTU... a member leader of Southerners on New Ground, member of the founding vision circle of Kindred Healing Justice, a founding member of... Warrior Healers Organizing Trust, and a member of SpiritHouse," and other projects and initiatives. Having followed some of these and learning more about others, this is quite the impressive resume.

Undrowned is divided into different chapters, each of which is its own meditation. While the author claims to have written the book so that the reader can read non-linearly or skip around, I decided to read it cover to cover. The experience was interesting and I imagine someone choosing to take more time with it or use it as a meditation-a-day/week/etc text would have a different experience. So there's a bit of versatility there.

Gumbs refers to herself as a "marine mammal apprentice" and admits to being a beginner regarding the topic. This will show at times to those of us who have read a bit about these animals already. But, as a result, it simultaneously makes the book accessible to a much wider audience rather than limiting it to PhDs as some books focused on certain topics do. Gumbs also uses fairly accessible language in this book which also makes it able to be read more widely. I will admit, a lot of this book was not really my thing. I am not a spiritual person, I don't do meditations, etc but there was also a lot in this book that appealed to me- particularly the "End Capitalism" chapter and others with a more praxis sort of focus.

My criticism of Gumbs work would be that she tends to create a hierarchy of animals in a way that I don't think she intended. She refers to "advanced marine mammals" in the beginning of the book, but never really defines what this means. Many of the lessons that she urges the reader to learn from marine mammals can also be taught by a great many fish species which make up a far larger portion of marine life than mammals. (I recommend the book "What a Fish Knows" if you want a better understanding of this.) But, fishes are treated- likely unintentionally- as disposable objects in some parts of the book. The book's focus is marine mammals, so I am not saying that the book should have focused on fishes. I'm saying that it falls into the same trap many humans' love of other animals falls into- it becomes limited to or more focused on animals humans (incorrectly) think are more like us and animals not traditionally used for food in the west. For instance, in discussing the commercial fishing industry and why it must end along with capitalism, the reasoning is mostly based on how it accidentally kills marine mammals and how it affects the environment for humans and marine mammals. The prime victims of the fishing industry- fishes by the trillion plus every year- are a side note if that. Even from the perspective of only caring about marine mammals and humans, destroying the fishes destroys both of those people and we're already looking at saltwater fish extinction by 2048 if we keep going the way we are going. There is also a bit of a noble savage trope where she positively discusses the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing operations in their country being Maori and their taking a couple welfare steps for marine mammals. This comes across a bit as if Maori people are monolithic and that saving a few dolphins somehow vastly separates this capitalist venture from that of other commercial fishing operations- even if said commercial fishing is harming the most marginalized of Maori people. She does mention her conflict in this and struggling to know when to give credit, so I get what she was trying to do there. But, I really hoped for a more nuanced look at marine life rather than the same old anthropocentric binary of the minority of "advanced" marine life vs everyone else.

So, all of that criticism is to say that this is definitely not an animal liberation book or a scientific book. I am not saying Alexis Pauline Gumbs is not for animal liberation personally, (I actually think she might be ethically vegan, but I am not sure.) I am just saying that this book is a meditation book for humans inspired by, and is sometimes a brief ode to, marine mammals. The focus is on the reader. Nonetheless, I am glad to have read this book. It tackled these topics in new ways I have not seen before and that is always a good thing. I think fans of Gumbs work- both poetry and activism- will find something they enjoy and learn from within it.

This was also posted to my blog.

[Tala&#x1f988; (mrs.skywalker.reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

chcę zamieszkać w tej książce

[Micki Olivieri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to get it. However, this book is probably going to be the lowest-rated for me of the year.
The writing itself was beautiful, but I couldn't get beyond the amount that Gumbs romanticized nature to serve her philosophy instead of the other way around. This was not a nature appreciation piece. This was a poet rewriting and misrepresenting nature for her own benefit. She says over and over that these animals are "teaching us a lesson" to the point that it starts sounds like her care for these animals depends solely on what they can do for her, and it's that kind of thinking that got us here in the first place.
An archivist recently told me that scholarship surrounding social issues that uses more than it gives is at best useless and at worst actively harmful. While I would not call this text harmful, I would say that it does nothing to serve the creatures that she uses.

[xenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so many other reviewers have talked about how beautiful this book is, but why has no one talked about how funny it is? The way Alexis spoofs the inspirational style of science communication and white feminism is so, so funny! She'll begin with a science fact that slowly morphs and twists (like a dolphin . . .) into a strange oceanic affirmation for interspecies love, and I find it so funny, because while it's deeply sincere on one level, it's also self-aware and wry on another. Like, duh, love won't fix the world—but, also, it will. To love beyond capital and the misery it generates is an affirmation of abundance and systems older and vaster than capital could ever imagine or accept. The way out is through: not a rejection of the human, but an embrace of the posthuman. Becoming flipper. Becoming squeaky bumper of the sea. Slip sliding into futures as unfathomable as the abyss. Black as the origins of life.

Anyway, here are some funny passages:

I identify as a mammal

Beluga is known for being whatever and changing forever into whatever's around

The leopard seal is not afraid of you. She is not afraid of you. She never was. She remains a mystery to you.

You say beluga, I say shapeshifter. Is that the whale? No, it is just a piece of ice

Sometimes when someone is avoiding you, they are just avoiding you. We have the right to be obscure . . . What I know is I love you. Even if you are not interested in being followed . . . And I celebrate your right to evade and avoid me. I celebrate your journey however deep, however long.

Praisesong for the menopausal planet who knows herself well enough to see your nonsense for what it is. Praisesong for she who has known ice ages and asteroids. You will never outsmart her

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever fallen in love with a writer's prose like a coup de foudre? When I heard Alexis Pauline Gumbs read an excerpt of her work at the American Studies Association conference a few years ago, I was awestruck. When I heard that she was coming out with a book of Black feminist reflections, it felt like kismet. I was obsessed with cetaceans in middle school, manatees in particular; I even thought I might become a marine biologist. This book did not disappoint in its combination of ecological observation, Black feminist meditation, and gorgeous prose. Perhaps my favorite thing about the book was her play with address, her use of the second-person, writing to the reader like her lover (or treating her lover as her reader). Gumbs does not shy away from the world-shattering effects of racial capitalism and its extractive practices. Within this destructive culture, she insists on the care of self, other, and community. The book concludes with mindfulness and action prompts. Advocating for the "school" as opposed to the nuclear family, Gumbs reminds us in a book written before the pandemic of all that is lost in isolation. She takes animals as teachers, and while they often function metaphorically, she also takes their embodied lives and kinship practices as a source of interspecies pedagogy, which I love.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew from the title that this was a book I had to read, and it was even more magical than I expected. I read slowly, little bits at a time, leaving time for thinking and writing and exploring in between, including reading about the marine mammals. I feel like the book's description -- of a work "producing not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wondering and questioning" -- is really true, and I am left with much to think about. I found myself underlining, drawing the occasional heart in the margin, as the questions that the book raises made their way into my journalling + other reflective practices -- it's a book I'll return to. Gumbs' writing is beautiful, poetic -- it's my first time reading her work but it definitely will not be the last.

[Rachel Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm actually still reading this book, not quite halfway through yet, but I love it. And I'm recommending it to friends. It is such a profoundly encouraging, thoughtful and deeply useful text for the moments we are living through. I'm thankful to Prof. Gumbs for this beautiful work. Highly recommended! And a perfect read on this Mothers Day!

[Tao · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What if we could release ourselves from an internalized time clock and remember that slow is efficient, slow is effective, slow is beautiful?"

[Molly (MoMo) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fucking fantastic book that i will recommend everyone read, especially those in STEM. So, so good. Beautifully written, relevant, moving, and includes dolphin/whale/seal facts! What is better than that. Already planning on reading it a second time after i force everyone around me to read it.

[Mijo Stumpf · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read this book and contemplate its pages, I see the web of connection that spans land and sea, human and marine mammal. It teaches me about our sameness. I love this book, and anyone who is living above water (and sometimes beneath it) should absolutely read it.

[marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

tylko w taki sposob powinno sie pisac o zwierzetach morskich

[Zebadiah Demorest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black feminist theory from marine animals? Sign me tf up. This book was incredible. There are so many impactful theories here, but I was surprised by how much I felt while reading this book. It really hits your heart—which I’m learning that good theory can do. The parallels that Gumbs’ draws between ourselves and our relationships with each other and marine animals and their relationships with themselves and the earth are deeply moving and impactful. Ive been thinking about this book non-stop since I read it, and I’ll be thinking about it for years to come.

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il me faudrait 10⭐ pour celui la.

Et voila comment un achat un peu compulsif suite a une conference difficile, guidé par cette couverture bleu pailletée et ces illustrations de sirene, m'a amené.e à vibrer dans les échos de l'amour Noir d'Alexis Pauline Gumbs et toutes ses ancetres humains et non humaines, ses transcetres aussi.

Et voila comment ce livre bleu et merveilleux m'a conduit.e à des recherches impromptues et ne pouvant pas attendre sur la dauphin rose d'Amazonie. Une dauphin rose ? Je veux dire... Rien ne peut être au dessus...

Et voila comment je me suis retrouvé.e directement en contact avec ma part enfant, passionnée de sirènes, de dauphins, de baleines. Dont l'animal favori est le beluga, pcq les sonorités du nom sont juste parfaites, comme la couleur et la forme de cette mammifère.

Et voila comment je me retrouve pris.e d'un tres grand et remplissant sentiment de gratitude et d'humilité pour les capacités de résilience et de guérison des personnes Noires. Et comment cela m'inspire pour prendre soin, pour rétablir.

Et voila comment je vous enjoins a lire ce livre, a frissonner de la perfection des ongles des lamantins. A vibrer a glisser a respirer aux couleurs chatoyantes tissées par les mots d'Alexis Pauline Gumbs, empreints d'une temporalité différente, océanique. Chaque "je t'aime" arrive sous les yeux et embarque le coeur dans un débordement. Chaque mot pèse comme une plume sur la balance, juste et résonnant de ses qualités : humour, amour, colère, mémoire...

Un chef d'œuvre Noir comme les profondeurs les plus fertiles des océans, le limon le plus sacré du Nil, la boue la plus purifiante de l'Amazone.

[amyleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beyond five stars. A necessarily urgent guide to loving, intimacy, care and nurturance culture, to refusing capitalism and rethinking relation. As a white able-bodied woman living on stolen land, stolen water, I will return to this guide again and again to actively think about where I am, how I how I can practice unlearning, listening deeply, and intervening in structures of harm and oppression. Gumbs offers so much here in the way she relates to the marine mammals who move within this text but are in no way captured, known, or put on display. They are teachers, lovers, kin, and mothers.

[Olivia Matz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like I was loosing brain cells reading this book. She’s trying to be poetic but most of the time it just ends up not making sense. Half of her sentences are not complete sentences. The grammar and syntax are atrocious. She had a couple insightful things to say but it certainly was not worth reading the whole book for.

[Elwira Księgarka na regale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opis Wydawnictwa Współbycie na IG zawiera te słowa: „literatura przenikań, przestrojeń i przeobrażeń” i „Niezatapialne” są świetną manifestacją misji wydawnictwa. Gumbs tworzy książkę w formie, której się jeszcze nie spotkałam. Tak wnikliwie przenika, przestraja i przeobraża życie ssaków morskich, że człowiekowi wstyd, że wcześniej tego nie widział czy nie wiedział.

„Okazało się, że język dewiacji i oczerniania (choćby termin „młodociani włóczędzy” używany do opisywania kapturników morskich), niezręczne przypisywanie płci na podstawie binarnego podziału oraz niedorzeczna kryminalizacja ssaków, które wymknęły się biologom, przesiąknęły do tego, co zwykło się nazywać neutralnym językiem naukowym przewodników morskich. Sięgając po te książki, chciałam dowiedzieć się jedynie, który wieloryb to który, zostałam jednak skonfrontowana z kolonialnymi, rasistowskimi, seksistowskimi, heteropatriarchalnymi, kapitalistycznymi konstruktami.”

„Niezatapialne” zapadają w pamięć za swoją oryginalność przemyśleń. Ta książka to międzygatunkowa korelacja wnosząca hymn ku przetrwaniu. Rozedrgane wzruszenie poprzez pisanie o ssakach, języku naukowców, który próbuje chować się za stroną bierną, a tak naprawdę nigdy nie może pozostać obojętny. Autorka przybliża nam losy ssaków morskich jednocześnie zwracając się do nas, osób żyjących wspólnie na tej planecie, które są współodpowiedzialne za losy tych niewidocznych na co dzień istot. Gumbs ujęła mnie swoją wnikliwością i snuciem nici połączeń tematów queerowości, kultury oraz historii Afroamerykanów z nietolerancją, rasizmem i powolnym zanikaniem drogocennych gatunków. Każdy z rozdziałów przemawia do nas rozpoczynając się w formie rozkazującej typu „zejdź głęboko” lub „szanuj swoje włosy” a kończąc się na swego rodzaju medytacji i wyznaniu miłości do wszechświata.

O tym dla kogo jest ta książka, najlepiej pisze sama autorka:

„Napisałam tę książkę z myślą o was, towarzyszki, które przychodzicie na konferencję Allied Media, które wczytywałyście się kiedyś w „make/shift” i „Left Turn” i które biegle posługujecie się mediami społecznościowymi. Napisałam ją z myślą o was, marzycielkach, zamieszkujących wybrzeże i zastanawiających się nad znalezionymi tam kośćmi wielorybów. Napisałam ją z myślą o tych z was, które lobbują w ONZ-ecie w sprawie ekologii głębokich oceanów i tego, co jest potrzebne, aby ją uszanować. I o tych, które nie mogą powstrzymać się od płaczu, gdy czytają codzienne wiadomości. I o was, które czujecie się odcięte od natury. I o was, osobach, dla których natura jest życiowym priorytetem. I o nas, ludziach zaniepokojonych kryzysem klimatycznym.”

Dlatego trudno tak naprawdę przejść obok niej obojętnie.

„Niezatapialne. Czarny feminizm i ssaki morskie”, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, tłumaczenie Dominika Wasilewska i Weronika Zalewska, wydanie listopad 2024, Wydawnictwo Współbycie, pierwsze wydanie 2020

Książkę kupiłam w lubelskiej księgarni Między Słowami.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite moments of this summer was lying on malia's blanket while el and olivia read this book aloud to me. i don't know the last time i had heard the word love said aloud so many times. often when a word gets repeated so much, it begins to lose its power but this book is continually strong in its lovingness. which was only increased by having people i love read and breathe it to me. even when i finished it on my own, i felt this force/energy of love flooding from it. which i think is the core of Black feminism. & what is going to change the world. the capaciousness and power of alexis pauline gumbs' love is so beautiful. i love how the "you" in her i love yous shifts and flows throughout the book to hold marine mammals, human mammals, me the reader, Black women, ancestors, all of us. and the instability of gumbs' "i" - is she the writer or a marine mammal, or something in between? her positionality is constantly flowing. in this way, she is modeling a sort of (interspecies) love that becomes a becoming. which is actually an interesting layer to the tree anthropomorphism debate, & to the erotics of rot interspecies porousness argument....hm....overall this book is a beautiful model for change that i will keep coming back to. i think i could flip open to any page and find something i need to hear.

"there is something i'm going to tell you, but first i have to make a language for myself and the place i live that doesn't steal me from my purpose. will you wait? there is something i'm going to tell you, just let me open up my mouth. see if i sing." (this is literally a prayer!!!!!! this whole book is a ritual!!)

[Adam Fitzwalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my third time reading through Undrowned since April 2024. As that probably reflects, I have strong emotions around it. At once, Gumbs offers personal meditation, narrative prose, and critical theory. I’m addicted to how Gumbs arranges and disarranges- introducing a scientific, cold writing style to then subvert this with poetry and love. With each read I’ve felt a greater sense of entanglement with Gumbs’ subjects- those whales, dolphins, otters, and countless more who, like us, remain entrapped victims of capitalism and colonialism. On this 3rd reading I committed to practicing some of the activities Gumbs recommends; for example, recording myself reading aloud, choosing a mantra, and being fussy about my hair (I know! Trust me).

I’m knocking off a star because I’ve found Undrowned needs to be read within some sort of intersectionality. I think Gumbs would likely agree, if probably challenge the objectivity and teleology of a hierarchial star system. On my first reading I created a watery Thalassology, and on my second a vegan-ology (?). This was my first time reading Undrowned for ‘itself’ and it didn’t land quite the same. If anybody were to pick up Gumbs for the first time, I recommend Mel Y Chen’s ‘Animacies’, Elizabeth Deloughery’s ‘Submerged Bodies’, and naturally Haraway’s ‘Staying with the Trouble’ as complementary texts.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Offers a new way of thinking about non human life in a non anthropomorphic way that I'm sure will be replicated. Plus is genuinely fun, multilayered, and a kind of primer to modern Black feminist theory at the same time? Alexis, Alexis, teach us more ! Teach us to breathe !

[Shirin A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not a book. This book is an ocean of small, and whale big, Blessings. It should be at the top of everyone's reading list.

[Dino · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 🐬🐳🦭🐋

[Kate Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this book with some skepticism. Sometimes I get excited about books like this only to discover that they've taken simplified factoids about other species and turned them into just-so stories that continue to center humans. But then I read this and -- I'll be honest -- cried at every page.

What makes this book work is that Gumbs is paying close and respectful attention to other species. She usually doesn't generalize them, romanticize them, or twist them into lessons. Yes, there are a few moments that feel a little like a stretch (a school of fish doesn't really have anything to do with human educational institutions, for instance). But fundamentally Gumbs is here to express gratitude and love for other kinds of beings. We have things to learn from all of them, but they aren't here for us.

And I just appreciate reading someone who can care about human justice and the well-being of other species at the same time. Often when I'm reading about problems and solutions, I feel like I have to turn off half of my heart. It was good to be whole-hearted for a while here with this book.

I do recommend only reading a bit at a time.

[Emiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars
This book is so fucking good. Reading it again has only confirmed what I knew to be true: Alexis Pauline Gumbs is wondrous. A lovely writer, combining (colonialist) science with truth and emotion... in a way I cannot describe. It's beautiful. Please read this and take deep breaths while doing so. Go slow. You won't regret it. Also, support AK Press. They do such good work!

[Mackenziekolton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most impactful book I’ve read in 2021. This one took me a long time to get through even in its short length because of all the truths present in it. I’d encourage a pen and paper around to write down what sticks - and when you get teary - this is a deeply personal book that reads like a letter to the reader. I’ll come back to this one a lot.

[Dehanza (Daye) · Rating 5 out of 5]

No doubt the best book I read in 2021. I made a point to read only one section each morning. I doubt there is a better way to read it. After two years of living in the midst of the Pandemic this was deeply needed and a great tool to bring into the new year.

[happpps · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous collection of meditations, reflections, and love letters to the self, to our salty and sea-watered earth, and to humankind. A necessary inquiry into what constitutes “otherness”; a gentle yet sober reproach for what we’ve culturally considered scientific research, progress, and even “love.” This book deepened my appreciation for the mysteries of the natural world, its mirrors and differences; it beckoned me to once again reconsider what and how I love. Would recommend to anyone looking for something spiritually gratifying, digestible, and fresh. I’m appreciative for how this book companions my own groanings and curiosities as a n aspiring love evangelist in this world.

[Abigail]

slay