Review by Choice Review
This is another insightful book in Ahmed's well-regarded series of considerations of what acting as a feminist in non-feminist institutions means. The title references not a single complaint raised about harassment or discrimination but draws from her interviews with those who have raised grievances in universities to build general theory. Ahmed, a feminist writer and an independent researcher, assembles a compelling typology of how the complaint processes outlined in policy documents obscure the substance of problems and turn women with grievances into "complainers" who cannot be trusted. With formal or informal rules invoked to punish those bringing disrepute to the employer, potential complainants are warned off, albeit at times sympathetically. Although flowcharts indicate that there are processes, the tangle of deflections offers impunity to the harm-doers. The true consequence of anti-harassment or anti-discrimination policies, she argues, is finally to reveal to the complainants the institutional indifference to or support of sexism that the policies were written to obscure. Complainants' experiences are both consciousness raising and identity shaping and may even lead in unexpected directions, such as resigning from one's university, as Ahmed herself did. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. --Myra Marx Ferree, emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Feminist scholar Ahmed (What's the Use?) analyzes in this scholarly account the shortcomings of the formal complaint process at universities. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with students and faculty who have made complaints, as well as her own frustrating experience trying to help a group of students navigate the process of making a collective sexual harassment complaint, Ahmed indentifies "institutional mechanics" that keep complaints from being heard. These include an insistence on formal written letters of complaint, which require students to give up their anonymity and may imperil their future careers, and a tendency to give more weight to accusations made or supported by those in positions of power. Ahmed also discusses how people who make complaints often discover that others have done so previously, and suggests that by "forming a complaint collective... those who are cast out can pull together, leap into the unknown." Ahmed anonymizes and obscures these cases in order to protect people's privacy, which makes it difficult to keep track of which example she's talking about, and her knotty prose sometimes muddies the waters ("The sociality of how complaints are expressed is another way of considering the effects of how complaints are contained"). This hyper-focused study leaves the broader implications of Ahmed's research unexplored. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A scholarly critique of the difficulties encountered by those who file formal complaints in the world of higher education. In an era of Black Lives Matter, MeToo, and a host of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, you might think that there would be more transparency in dealing with charges of discrimination and harassment, particularly at the university level. Not so, writes Ahmed, an independent feminist scholar who left her post at a British university over its treatment of sexual harassment. "To be heard as complaining is not to be heard," she writes. "To hear someone as complaining is an effective way of dismissing someone. You do not have to listen to the content of what she is saying if she is just complaining or always complaining." The author, who has gained notoriety in academic circles for Living a Feminist Life (2017) and other books, presents a strong argument that power in higher education tends to protect itself, that diversity initiatives are often nothing more than window dressing, and that those who file complaints about a hostile work environment often face accusations of disloyalty or troublemaking. Charges of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, Ahmed argues, are similar from institution to institution and ubiquitous because the conditions that spark them don't change. Those who wish to file formal complaints often find it difficult to navigate the complex procedures, only to find their paperwork buried in some cabinet or their cases adjudicated behind closed doors. Those who go public, meanwhile, face withdrawal of funding, lack of institutional support, and being passed over for promotion. In most cases, the bureaucrats who run universities are more concerned with protecting the institution than with correcting transgressions. Most of the charges here are broad and general, but anyone who has worked in higher education will recognize much of what Ahmed brings to light. Sharp criticism of an overlooked systemic problem in higher education. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
