Sista Resister

Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists
Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism

by m seenarine

Xpyr Press 2023. 327 pages

Available on Amazon

This book presents 50 biographies of radical women of color activists from over 25 countries and territories. 

The book, Sista Resister: Bios of 50 Radical Women of Color Activists Resisting Sexism, Colonialism & Racism, introduce the biographies of women from over 25 countries and territories. This eclectic collection of biographies of female activists show that 'Third World' females are active on a wide range of issues, from women's and children's health, to housing and labor rights, the environment and climate change. The book is divided into two sections. Part I, on current sista resisters, chronicles the lives of 30 contemporary female activists, from Mexico to the Philippines. The 20 life stories in Part II, on foresisters of resistance, establish that women in the Global South were some of the earliest feminist thinkers and writers in the world. Each life story refutes the common misrepresentation of Indigenous, African, Asian, Latina, Muslim, Dalit and other females as docile creatures in need of Western rescue.

Contrary to their depiction in mainstream media as passive and docile, women in the 'Third World' were some of the first women's rightist activists. For instance, Fang Weiyi (1585 to 1668) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648 to 1695) wrote about women's rights a century before Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 to 1797), whose essay, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792), is widely regarded as one of the first feminist text. And, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's (1880 to 1932) feminist science fiction novella, Sultana's Dream (1905), was written a decade before Charlotte Perkins Gilman's popular feminist utopian novel, Herland (1915). One of the main goals of this book is to amplify the voices of high-melanin female activists, and examples of their work are included in each portrait.

Table of Contents

Defining Terms and Intentions	ix
Glossary	x
Acknowledgments	xv
Preface	1
Introduction	9
PART I - CONTEMPORARY RESISTERS
1. Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya)	47
2. Audra Simpson (Mohawk/Canada)	50
3. Marielle Franco (Rio, Brazil)	53
4. Sarah Deer (Muscogee/US)	58
5. Lydia Cacho (Mexico)	63
6. Yue Xin (Beijing, China)	68
7. Ece Temelkuran (Turkey)	72
8. Moya Bailey (Georgia, US)	77
9. Asmaa Mahfouz (Egypt)	81
10. Alma Caballero (Mexico)	86
11. Nadia Murad (Iraq)	89
12. Leymah Gbowee (Liberia)	93
13. Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe/US)	97
14. Malalai Joya (Afghanistan)	100
15. Risa Hontiveros (Philippines)	106
16. Wu Qing (Beijing, China)	109
17. Randa Jarrar (Chicago, US)	112
18. Tawakkol Karman (Yemen)	116
19. Norma Vázquez (Mexico)	120
20. LaDonna Brave Bull (Sioux/US)	124
21. Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala)	128
22. Haneen Zoabi (Nazareth, Israel)	132
23. Carmen Cruz (Puerto Rico)	136
24. Phoolan Devi (India)	140
25. Alice Walker (Georgia, US)	145
26. Wangari Maathai (Kenya)	151
27. Haunani-Kay Trask (Hawaiʻi/US)	155
28. Loujain AlHathloul (Saudia Arabia)	161
29. Berta Cáceres (Honduras)	165
30. Assata Shakur (US/Cuba)	169
PART II - FORESISTAS of RESISTANCE
31. Queen Nzinga (Angola)	178
32. Fang Weiyi (China)	182
33. Sor Juana (Mexico)	185
34. Queen Aliquippa (Seneca/US)	190
35. Sojourner Truth (NY, US)	194
36. Bamewawagezhikaquay (Ojibwe/US)	202
37. Savitribai Phule (South Asia)	207
38. Forten Women (PA, US)	212
39. Harriet Tubman (MD, US)	219
40. Dolores Jiménez (Mexico)	228
41. Rokeya Hossain (South Asia)	233
42. Raden Adjeng Kartini (Indonesia)	238
43. Ida Bell Wells (MS, US)	243
44. Bibi Khānom Astarābādi (Iran)	251
45. Hiratsuka Raichō (Japan)	255
46. Lucy Parsons (TX, US)	260
47. Mirair Ngirmang (Palau)	266
48. María Rivera (Peru)	270
49. Yuri Kochiyama (CA, US)	274
50. Lolita Lebrón (Puerto Rico)	281
ADDENDUM
Abolition & Women's Rights (US)	289
Endnotes	297