‘Embodied Activism’ by Rae Johnson, PhD, is a practical guide for ensuring that our activism is rooted in connection to our bodies. It is also a call to action for social justice and environmental movements to expand their understanding of being an activist. I appreciated that Johnson provides concrete examples of how readers can implement the strategies they write about into their own lives and activism.

Embodied Activism: Engaging the Body to Cultivate Liberation, Justice, and Authentic Connection--A Practical Guide for Transformative Social Change is a great book if you're looking for a stronger foundation and education in how to get in better touch with your body to avoid burnout and maximize your social activism. So often, those fighting for social justice get worn out and therefore can't make the kind of impact they want to make. Doing yoga, going to a therapist, and getting in tune with your body all help, and if you're doing those things (or have done those things), a lot of what's in these pages may not feel super groundbreaking.

However, Embodied Activism gives you terms for the things you may already be doing without realizing it, and then gives you the benefits (some of which you may already know, and some that you don't). All of this information is then woven into the social benefits of activism: how, once we can identify all the ways we have been caging people in through various and multiple ways, we can break that cycle to liberate society in positive, healing ways.

Three stars because this wasn't as mind-blowing as I hoped, but it was still fresh, compassionate, and insightful. I can see it being useful for beginner activists, those without a lot of knowledge on this topic, and may even members of Boards for nonprofits who need to be rejuvenated in how they approach their missions.

Thank you to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for giving me advanced reader access in exchange for my honest review. This book publishes May 30, 2023.

A great resource that gives actionable items on top of an educational foundation. You can learn and grow as an activist and general human being through this book.

I love that this text offers space and insight into engaging with the concepts that are covered. In my opinion this does add to its value as it is not just a textbook but also a call to action. Too often ideas stay just ideas and hopefully people actually use the knolwedge this book has to offer. The text I wouldnt say is introductory as there is rather a lot of technical language being used - so perhaps not the first book on the topic to pick up but a good addition none the less.

Rae Johnson is the author of Embodied Social Justice and decided that she wanted to share her tools, ideas, and stories with a broader audience. This desire was the birthplace of Embodied Activism. Embodied Activism is compromised of seven chapters where Johnson provides a thorough analysis of what embodied activism is, how it looks in activism practice, the importance of including the body in the social justice work we do, understanding how oppressive systems impact our bodies, developing our own body awareness, intentionally cultivating a sense of sensuality as a gift to our bodies, how we can undo oppressive interpersonal relations by exploring and reauthorizing our own body language, deconstructing the damaging ideologies about bodily difference and disrupting societal norms. Lastly she provides a framework to help readers understand how to integrate the practices she shares in the text.

I really appreciated the body stories shared in the text as testimony of the embodied experiences she and others have had with issues presented in the text. These examples make both the challenges and rewards of this work more accessible and relatable to readers who may be new to this ideology. In conclusion, Embodied Activism will help many readers learn to listen to the voice of their body and in this way will have the result of making readers more reflective about the impact of activism on the body. I think this is vital for care workers in today's climate and life changing work that requires a mindset shift this book helps provide!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!