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Table of Contents
About The Book
FROM THE AUTHOR OF RAGE BECOMES HER, A POWERFUL ARGUMENT FOR COMMUNAL RESILIENCE BASED ON IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE HISTORY, SOCIAL SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, POLITICS, AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES BEHIND HOW WE THINK ABOUT CRISIS
AND RESPOND TO TRAUMA
In this thought-provoking exploration, writer and activist Soraya Chemaly challenges our common, most dearly held myths of resilience and urges us to shift our perspective from prioritizing individualized traits and skills to uplifting collective care, material life, and open-ended connections with our communities.
Resilience, she proves, is always relational.
Chemaly dismantles notions of resilience rooted in the philosophies of “mind over matter,” “mental toughness,” “strength,” and “positive thinking,” arguing that our modern version of “resilience” is a bill of goods that has been sold to us by capitalism, colonialism, and ideologies that embrace supremacy over others. Instead, she makes the case that true resilience comes from acknowledging our fragility, recognizing our interdependencies—on each other, on nature, on time—and cultivating nurturing relationships that sustain us. Throughout, Chemaly provides concrete examples of how to enact this new model in our daily lives. She sheds new light on ACE (adverse childhood experiences) research to reframe how parents and educators should think about the long-term impact of childhood trauma, debunks the powerful notion of “bouncing back,” and explains why we have to turn away from believing that
we always have to “soldier on.”
Blending rigorous research and enthralling personal storytelling, The Resilience Myth offers a new vision for collective healing by emphasizing care for our neighbors—both human and nonhuman—and our environments over just ourselves. By prioritizing compassion, creativity, and connection, this
book ignites essential conversations about fostering resilience for all, not just for those who can afford it. all.
AND RESPOND TO TRAUMA
In this thought-provoking exploration, writer and activist Soraya Chemaly challenges our common, most dearly held myths of resilience and urges us to shift our perspective from prioritizing individualized traits and skills to uplifting collective care, material life, and open-ended connections with our communities.
Resilience, she proves, is always relational.
Chemaly dismantles notions of resilience rooted in the philosophies of “mind over matter,” “mental toughness,” “strength,” and “positive thinking,” arguing that our modern version of “resilience” is a bill of goods that has been sold to us by capitalism, colonialism, and ideologies that embrace supremacy over others. Instead, she makes the case that true resilience comes from acknowledging our fragility, recognizing our interdependencies—on each other, on nature, on time—and cultivating nurturing relationships that sustain us. Throughout, Chemaly provides concrete examples of how to enact this new model in our daily lives. She sheds new light on ACE (adverse childhood experiences) research to reframe how parents and educators should think about the long-term impact of childhood trauma, debunks the powerful notion of “bouncing back,” and explains why we have to turn away from believing that
we always have to “soldier on.”
Blending rigorous research and enthralling personal storytelling, The Resilience Myth offers a new vision for collective healing by emphasizing care for our neighbors—both human and nonhuman—and our environments over just ourselves. By prioritizing compassion, creativity, and connection, this
book ignites essential conversations about fostering resilience for all, not just for those who can afford it. all.
About The Author
Photograph by Elizabeth Dranitzke
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer and activist whose work focuses on the role of gender in culture, politics, religion, and media. She is the Director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project and an advocate for women’s freedom of expression and expanded civic and political engagement. A prolific writer and speaker, her articles appear in Time, The Verge, The Guardian, The Nation, HuffPost, and The Atlantic. Follow her on Twitter at @SChemaly and learn more at SorayaChemaly.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers (July 3, 2024)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668079133
Raves and Reviews
“Thoughtful and well-argued, this book offers a humane vision of the ways people must adapt their ideas of what it means to thrive to a radically changing world. . . . Provocative, necessary reading.”
—Kirkus
“Ambitious. . . using a feminist and anticapitalistic framework to interrogate notions of resilience. . . this is sure to spark conversation.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Resilience is an ideology—comprising elements of individualism, bootstraps, and even victim-blaming. With characteristically brilliant arguments and meticulous research, Chemaly demolishes this ideology in The Resilience Myth and shows us how to build something so much better for everyone facing adversity. A must-read book for our age.”
—Kate Manne, author of Down Girl
“A vital, life-saving must-read for anyone who has been force-fed the word ‘resilient’ when they feel anything but. The book I wish I'd had when I was neck-deep in trauma.”
—Nora McInerny, author of Bad Vibes Only and the host of It’s Going To Be OK
“A tender, sensitive meditation on the supposed virtue of resilience in the face of trauma and adversity. Through counterintuitive insights and observations, Soraya Chemaly reminds us that it is in fact far healthier to be human.”
—Angela Saini, award-winning journalist and author of The Patriarchs and Superior
“Chemaly has once again written the book we desperately need. In The Resilience Myth, Chemaly skillfully weaves science, anthropology, and history with poignant personal stories teaching us not only what real resilience looks like, but also why a new definition is more urgent than ever.”
—Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD, psychiatrist and bestselling author of Real Self-Care
“Soraya Chemaly has written a searing indictment of one of the most pernicious fictions in America: that self-reliance can save us. With her signature clarity and penetrating mind, she subverts the ideologies of isolation that keep us divided and dissociated from ourselves and other people. Deeply informative and inspiring, The Resilience Myth is an urgent corrective to the mind/body and self/other ruptures at the heart of our collective crises. It’s a groundbreaking road map to true strength: shared struggle.”
—Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger
“Getting back on one's horse after a personal catastrophe feels evermore challenging—and Chemaly has, with clarity, patience, and rigor— illustrated why it's not just you, when all of us are asking, ‘Is it just me?’ She makes sense of what exists in our culture that isolates us from one another during times when we need each other most, providing a guiding light toward strength and interdependence, and ultimately, love.”
—Soraya Nadia McDonald, award-winning cultural critic and journalist
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Resilience Myth Export (Local Printing) Trade Paperback 9781668079133
- Author Photo (jpg): Soraya Chemaly Photograph by Elizabeth Dranitzke(0.1 MB)
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