Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies

by Shuli Branson (editor), Mimi Thi Nguyen (Foreword), Raven Hudson (Editor)

Surviving the Future is a collection of the most current ideas in radical queer movement work and revolutionary queer theory. Beset by a new pandemic, fanning the flames of global uprising, these queers cast off progressive narratives of liberal hope while building mutual networks of rebellion and care. These essays propose a militant strategy of queer survival in an ever precarious future. Starting from a position of abolition—of prisons, police, the State, identity, and racist cisheteronormative society—this collection refuses the bribes of inclusion in a system built on our expendability. Though the mainstream media saturates us with the boring norms of queer representation (with a recent focus on trans visibility), the writers in this book ditch false hope to imagine collective visions of liberation that tell different stories, build alternate worlds, and refuse the legacies of racial capitalism, anti-Blackness, and settler colonialism. The work curated in this book spans Black queer life in the time of COVID-19 and uprising, assimilation and pinkwashing settler colonial projects, subversive and deviant forms of representation, building anarchist trans/queer infrastructures, and more. Contributors include Che Gossett, Yasmin Nair, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Adrian Shanker, Kitty Stryker, Toshio Meronek, and more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, Social Justice, Politics, Theory, LGBT, Essays

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2022

Reviews

[Benjamin Solidarity · Rating 2 out of 5]

At times interesting but very much weighed down by academic speak. I understand that this is the sort of prose expected in the academy, but it does make it a slog to get through for those not used to it.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to rate this collection because my opinions on the essays vary widely. Some were overly academic (despite the collection purporting to be anti-institution and pro-accessibility) or didn't have much of an argument, while others were really thought-provoking and interesting.

[hauntedandholierthanthou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vital reading, very relevant to my work in a uni setting

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely excellent and engaging collection of essays. All power to the people.

[Hugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

We aren’t supposed to take this book seriously, right? This is just supposed to be an effort by some lazy editors to cash in on the explosion of social justice literature post-2014 and especially post-2020? They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I sadly slogged through the book, and found that it’s exactly as unserious as the cover would have you believe. Nobody outside of the most dedicated sociology/poli-sci major would ever pick up a book advertising not just the abolition of police, but of prisons in general, of universities, and of family, in addition to a whole slew of other things that won’t be allowed in these writers’ perfect society (you can still form a dedicated, close-knit family unit in this fictitious society, though, as there won’t be any police to stop you). Social justice buzzwords are thrown around until they don’t mean anything, sort of like how if you repeat a gibberish word over and over again it starts to sound really weird. “Surviving the Future” is the butt of a joke, feeding right into the hands of the people that these writers and editors swear to hate - seriously, just imagine if anyone held this book up in a debate against a leftist. The argument would be over. If you like jokes, go read a joke book, or a comedy. “Surviving the Future” is funny in all the wrong ways.

[Lexi Schnaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Learned a lot and also thought “what?” a lot. Been doing a lot of thinking about how we need to convey abolitionist/other ideas that are largely rooted in academia in theory in ways that are more accessible to the masses. The average person (me) probably has to look up what epistemological means every time they come across it and that is not productive for knowledge and movement building!! It is hard for me to really get behind essays like these that (rightfully) critique institutions of power (higher ed) but then still use their money (sometimes unavoidable) and language to try to argue ways for how things should be different. Anyway

[Nexusjio · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
I started this a few months back after borrowing it from a friend and put it down for a bit but finally got back to finishing it.

This is a very academic collection of essays and I'll be honest there was a lot I definitely am not educated enough to fully understand the arguments being made. But nevertheless I found the essays towards the middle of this book to be very interesting and informative surrounding not only the intersection of queer anarchist activities in the US but also their analysis on various subjects. Also props for each chapter having extensive citations on the sources/referenced. Which is good for looking into further bodies of work to read and learn from.

[Brittany]

The writing was super academic at times, so it could be a slog to get through. However, with any collection of essays, some stood out and hit harder more than others, so I guess it depends on your own lore and writing preferences! I’d still recommend it though.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

How did this crap even get published? Its like it was vomited by ChatGPT. It was vile and unreadable.