Edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson
Haymarket Books
11/19/2024, paperback
SKU: 9798888902554
A vital anthology exploring the intersections between caregiving and abolition
Abolition has never been a proposal to simply tear things down. As Alexis Pauline Gumbs asks, "What if abolition is something that grows?" As we struggle to build a liberatory, caring, loving, abundant future, we have much to learn from the work of birthing, raising, caring for, and loving future generations.
In We Grow the World Together, abolitionists and organizers Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson bring together a remarkable collection of voices revealing the complex tapestry of ways people are living abolition in their daily lives through parenting and caregiving. Ranging from personal narratives to policy-focused analysis to activist chronicles, these writers highlight how abolition is essential to any kind of parenting justice.
Contributors include:
Beth Richie
Harsha Walia
EJ, 6 years old
Dorothy Roberts
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Dylan Rodríguez
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn
Shira Hassan
Victoria Law
Mariame Kaba
The PDX Childcare Collective
adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown
and more
Reviews:
"With too many powerful and thought-provoking pieces to name, this collection will inspire caregivers of all kinds to imagine and work for a more interconnected, interdependent, and caring world." --ALA Booklist
"This is a book that a lot of people have been waiting for, whether they know it or not. Our movements are always stronger when we take the complex needs of parents and caregivers into account, and We Grow the World Together is a fine example of that principle. This book will enrich our movements and our relationships. Bringing our change-making values into our familial relationships is essential if we truly hope to cultivate new ways of living and being together. Loving relationships are one of the contexts in which prefiguring the world we want makes the most sense, and yet, many of us are still unprepared to do so. We need books like this one that help us contemplate such personal work. To love with an eye toward transformation in a hostile world is a brave pursuit. This book offers some accompaniment in that journey." --Kelly Hayes, coauthor of Let This Radicalize You
"Everyone who raises a child imagines a bright future for that precious being. This beautiful book teaches us how to imagine a bright future for all of us: children, families and communities. Abolition is liberation and love. I recommend this work for every reader." --Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
"The beautiful chorus of voices gathered in We Grow the World Together invite us to take up the work of parenting ourselves and each other toward becoming and bringing into being people who can live the liberation we long for. As we continue to enact and survive intergenerational trauma on a global and genocidal scale, the practice of parenting toward healing and uprooting all forms of violence, policing, and punishment in all our relationships is key to shifting the shape of societies toward the world we want. Whether you are raising children, building families, or creating communities of care and resistance, abolition requires each of us to answer their call." --Andrea J. Ritchie, author of Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies and coauthor of No More Police: A Case for Abolition
"We Grow the World Together is an antidote to the death-dealing systems of police, prisons, and war. This poignant and playful collection celebrates abolitionist worldmaking through the everyday interactions between parents, children, and caregivers of all types. Each chapter is a reminder: life is precious, no one is disposable, and with care and intent we will change the world." --Dan Berger, author of Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family's Journey
"In the home, school, streets, organization and behind the walls, caregiving is an essential part of any abolitionist praxis. Finally, we have a text that highlights the forms and function of the work that makes the work possible." --Stevie Wilson, currently imprisoned abolitionist organizer and facilitator
About the Editors:
Maya Schenwar is director of the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism and board president at Truthout. She is the co-author (with Victoria Law) of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms and the author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn't Work and How We Can Do Better. Schenwar has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, among others. Schenwar is a cofounder of the Chicago Community Bond Fund and organizes with the Love & Protect collective. She lives in Chicago with her partner, child, and abolitionist cat.
Kim Wilson is an educator, self-taught artist, and cohost and producer of the Beyond Prisons podcast. Dr. Wilson holds a Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, a Master's in Education in Adult and Organizational Development, and a Bachelor's in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources. Wilson's work has appeared in Shadowproof, Truthout, and Abolition Journal, and her art has been shown in galleries across the country. She lives in Chicago.