Welcome to my Syllabus Series. I was a high school English teacher for over five years and nothing gives me more joy than to help others learn something new. As someone who also reads a large amount of non-fiction, I wanted to create a new series where I pick a singular topic that you might want to learn more about. This edition is all about resistance.
In my exploration of the self-help industry, I often talk about how the solution is actually community-help and systemic change. If you’ve wanted to learn more about this, this is where to start.
First, I’ll take you through books to read through various genres and the order you should read them in to scaffold and layer your learning. But learning isn’t all about reading, so I’ll also share video resources, shorter articles, and give you a list of people to follow on social media in order to stay up to date well beyond today. Finally, learning means nothing without action, so I will also provide you ways that you can do something with what you’re learning.
This isn’t meant to be overwhelming and is laid out in a way that it’s learning you have time for. Therefore, the list isn’t extensive and manageable. Of course, there’s always more learning to be done.
Books to read
A collection of books read to read. For the best learning experience, try to read the books in this order.
(*note: this section contains affiliate links)
Fiction
“Pet” and “Bitter” by Akwaeke Emezi
In order to best understand resistance and revolution and the role you could play through your talents, I highly recommend these two books by my favorite author. They’re short and easily accessible and while they explore themes in a magical realism setting, the ideas are easily applicable to our own lives.
Non-fiction
”Mutual Aid” by Dean Spade
This is the book to help begin to understand the importance of mutual aid and the role and change it plays in our world. It’s great to not only understanding how mutual aid works, but how to effectively create mutual aid networks and participate in them.
Essays
“Freedom is a Constant Struggle” by Angela Y. Davis
A collection of essays, interviews, and speeches that explores struggles against state violence around the world and how they’re connected. It’s also a call to action for a collective movement towards liberation. This is a nice book to get a brief overview of various topics.
Non-fiction
“We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance” by Kellie Carter Jackson
If you enjoy “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” and want to dive deeper into the history of Black resistance, pick this up. It’s important that we reframe the narratives surrounding the history and present of Black resistance and this book does just that.
Non-fiction
“Let This Radicalize You” by Kelly Hayes
After you understand the history and basics surrounding resistance, this book all about sustaining organizing and activism as the systems you are resistance are built to break you down. This is to help you keep going.
Other media to consume
Case study
“Farm-to-Community: Critical Elements of a Successful Farm Mutual-Aid Program” by Chris Newman
A breakdown of what a successful mutual aid effort where a farmer started a mutual aid fund to help bring his food to individuals facing food insecurity.
Article
“The co-option of mutual aid” by Regan de Loggans
If you don’t have time to read any of the books above, this article is a great primer on mutual aid and how it differs from charity. It also explores the dangers of white people co-opting the term “mutual aid” when talking about charity.
Keynote speech
“Designing Rest as Practice” by Tricia Hersey
Hersey wrote a book called “Rest is Resistance” which focuses on the importance and revolutionary act of rest in our capitalistic society. Here’s a speech where she talks about this idea.
Podcast
“Movement Memos”
A podcast that connects experts, activists, and journalists around the world who are on the front lines of movements and mutual aid networks.
Who to follow
When learning about a subject where community is key it’s important to find people to help you along the way. Here are a few people and organisations I encourage you to follow:
Sam @expertbooksmuggler: In my opinion, Sam is one of the best examples of how to use social media as a tool for mutual aid. She has consistently been sharing resources and opportunities for you to participate in mutual aid by donating money directly to families currently experiencing genocide around the world.
JM Heatherly ‘s Substack: A substack dedicated to focusing on community organizing and mutual aid topics.
Dean Spade: The author of “Mutual Aid” listed above, I would honestly go to Spade’s linktree and read all his articles/interviews.
Take action
Donate
A large part of mutual aid is supporting members of your community (including your global community). One way to do this (if you’re able) is to financially help. There’s a million ways to do this.
I would recommend finding a cause or community you care about (Palestine, Sudan, natural disaster relief, etc) and search for mutual aid and that community on social media. I find Instagram to be the best place to search for these opportunities.
Start a mutual aid project
This might seem like a daunting task, but there are resources to help you. Big Door Brigade has a toolbox for starting a mutual aid project depending on what type of mutual aid you’re interested in.
A good place to start might be through creating a neighborhood pod or create a pod within your local community. Some resources on how to do that can be found here.
Protest
If you are able, protesting helps make our voices louder. It’s a tool meant to disrupt and force those in charge to take action. Make sure that you continue to make your voice heard on the issues you care about.
As I mentioned earlier, learning is an ongoing practice. If you would like more resources, don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you have any resources to add to this list, please add them to the comments below.
