Feminism Enchanted

Yanbing Er reveals how a literary mode of enchantment fundamentally transforms feminist theory and praxis, imagining new and surprising possibilities that had once been foreclosed by dominant paradigms of progress.

The feminist movement has long been guided by the promise of progress for women: politically, economically, and in personal life. But we live in a time when history appears to be moving backward into a more reactionary past. How might feminist thought make sense of this plight without returning to the liberal, Western framework of progressive reason?Yanbing Er argues that the key to this predicament lies in the capacity of the literary imagination to invigorate feminist critical practice. She reveals how a literary mode of enchantment fundamentally transforms feminist theory and praxis, imagining new and surprising possibilities that had once been foreclosed by dominant paradigms of progress. Enchantment illuminates forms of existence that have been lost, erased, or obscured, allowing us to encounter both feminism and the world anew. Er finds incantatory power in the works of writers such as Rivers Solomon, Akwaeke Emezi, Ruth Ozeki, and Alexis Wright, who disrupt hegemonic ways of thinking by summoning otherwise unimaginable ways of being. Their works collectively present an immersive and expansive feminist imaginary that makes space for marginalized histories, narratives, and lifeworlds. Elegantly written and boldly argued, Feminism Enchanted shows how poetic language conjures alternative futures for feminist thought.