Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us - Couverture rigide

Gümüsay, Kübra

 
9781788168496: Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us

Synopsis

A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

'I can't stop talking about this book'

Jamie Klingler, co-founder #ReclaimTheseStreets

'What a gem. ... Makes you look at the world, and yourself, afresh.'
Minna Salami, author of Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone

'A generous combination of passion and practicality that is not easily resisted. A rare book that might actually change our minds'
Daniel Hahn OBE

'A book at once vigorous and generous, pleasurable and galvanising'
Sophie Hughes, International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator

What does it really mean to speak freely? A wise, beautifully written book that explores the way language shapes our lives and how we see the world - and what happens when we learn new words, and new ways of speaking to each other.

Language opens up our world, and in the same instant, limits it. What does it mean to exist in a language that was never meant for you to speak? Why are we missing certain words? How can we talk about our communal problems without fuelling them? What does it actually mean to speak freely?

As a writer and activist fighting for equality, Kübra Gümüsay has been thinking about these questions for many years. In this book she explores how language shapes our thinking and determines our politics. She shows how people become invisible as individuals when they are always seen as part of a group, and the way those in the minority often have to expend energy cleaning up the messy thinking of others. But she also points to how we might shape conversations to allow for greater ambiguity and individuality, how arguments might happen in a space of learning and vulnerability without sacrificing principles - how we might all be able to speak freely.

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À propos de l'auteur

Kübra Gümüsay is one of the most influential intellectuals and activists in Germany. Her work focuses on social justice and public discourse, and she is the founder of several award-winning campaigns against racism and sexualised violence. She is a writer, and regularly appears on TV and radio. After many years in Oxford, she now lives in Hamburg.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9781788168502: Speaking and Being: How Language Binds and Frees Us

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  178816850X ISBN 13 :  9781788168502
Editeur : Profile Books Ltd, 2024
Couverture souple