"It is just easier to get stuck in big mad and work, work, work and plow through than just being like this is horrifying, period. Is rage a sustainable fuel source, or is it burning her out? And if activists can't make space for grief, what does that mean for the movements they're trying to build?"
"Deborah Gould, a political theorist and sociology professor at University of California, Santa Cruz who studies the emotions that both ignite and inhibit activism. Moving Politics, an influential study of how grief, anger, and hope powered the AIDS activist movement ACT UP. Before she was a scholar of the movement, she was in it-organizing with ACT UP Chicago in the 1980s and '90s."
Nicole, a labor organizer since 2010, recognizes her tendency to channel anger into work rather than process grief, questioning whether rage provides sustainable fuel or causes burnout. She engages in conversation with Deborah Gould, a sociology professor and political theorist at UC Santa Cruz who studies emotions in activism. Gould, who organized with ACT UP Chicago in the 1980s-90s and authored Moving Politics about grief, anger, and hope in the AIDS activist movement, explores the tension between emotional suppression and political effectiveness. Their intergenerational dialogue examines how feelings shape politics and the consequences when activists refuse to acknowledge grief alongside anger in movements.
Read at Queerty
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