Sensuous Knowledge

A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone

By: Minna Salami

Narrated by: Robin Miles

The creator of the internationally popular, multiple award-winning blog MsAfropolitan applies an Africa-centered feminist sensibility to issues of racism and sexism, challenging our illusions about oppression and liberation and daring women to embrace their power.

Sensuous Knowledge is a collection of thought provoking essays that explore questions central to how we see ourselves, our history, and our world.

What does it mean to be oppressed? What does it mean to be liberated? Why do women choose to follow authority even when they can be autonomous? What is the cost of compromising one’s true self? What narratives particularly subjugate women and people of African heritage? What kind of narrative can heal and empower?

As she considers these questions, Salami offers fresh insights on key cultural issues that impact women’s lives, including power, beauty, and knowledge. She also examines larger subjects, such as Afrofuturism, radical Black feminism, and gender politics, all with a historical outlook that is also future oriented. Combining a storyteller’s narrative playfulness and a social critic’s intellectual rigor, Salami draws upon a range of traditions and ideologies, feminist theory, popular culture - including insights from Ms. Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, and others - science, philosophy, African myths and origin stories, and her own bold personal narrative to establish a language for change and self-liberation.

Sensuous Knowledge inspires reflection and challenge us to formulate or own views. Using ancestral knowledge to steer us toward freedom, Salami reveals the ways that women have protested over the years in large and small ways - models that inspire and empower us to define our own sense of womanhood today.

In this riveting meditation, Salami ask women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male centric biases, and build a house themselves - a home that can nurture us all.

©2020 Minna Salami (P)2020 HarperAudio

Amazing and unique

So many insights, such a delightful blend of literature and science, and such intimate writing.

A Sensuously Pleasurable and Eye Opening Read

Minna’s book and reflections were timely for me as I have been internally grappling with how to situate ideas that are central to the world as it were from my African black feminist perspective.

In this book, she has given me a lot to think about and be grateful for.

Superb

An awesome book by Minna Salami. Feminism as seen through an African lady's lens with a lot of uncomfortable truths regarding patriarchy and the way it has shaped our way of viewing the world. A must read.

I loved it.

Loved it. it was my first Audiobook.
I am usually reluctant towards this format, but I really appreciated it and will read more books in this way.

Extraordinary and thought-provoking

This is a beautiful, provocative and important book from cover to cover. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel like a more informed human because of it!

Valuable insights, thought-provoking

This is a 5-star book in my opinion because the valuable insights provided by the author far outweigh its shortcomings, which while present, are insignificant to the larger issue. It's important to go into the story with an open mind free of prejudice, as I hope everyone would do. The author takes care to set out her intentions, and seeks to provide a positive perspective as a Black woman, and all that entails, on life, with the necessary business of contrasting it with the predominant systems regarding race, gender and class. I took this at face value and found her insights to be compelling and inspirational, in contrast to, as she defines it, Eurocentric capitalist patriarchy. I did find that there was a bit of monolithic view of the latter, as universal rather than as merely the dominant prevailing philosophy among many. That, perhaps, may indicate an infringement on my comfort zone as (for the sake of clarity alone) someone who would be defined as a white man, more than any bias of the author.

The best parts are the introduction of primarily Black women whom the author can use as exemplars. Particularly the section about Lauryn Hill, and the clown persona. I found that part extremely interesting and informative. I have to say that (betraying my perspective again!) it sounded very much like a description of Bob Dylan, a person who has consistently defied expectations, albeit without all the socio-economic, gender and racial implications. It exceeds the scope of the book of course, but beyond the primary objective of acknowledging Black female influence and authority, shouldn't we be looking for allies in the greater cause? The author does a great job with her admiration of Lauryn Hill, and quoting Toni Morrison (maybe a bit too much), Audre Lorde, Bell Hooks and a few others, in sharing rich and educational viewpoints, particularly to someone like myself, who desires these wonderful insights.

Which brings me to what has to be the most glaring shortcoming in the book. The philosophical gymnastics to include Beyonce in the group is Olympian. I have no issue with Beyonce as a performer, but the author, (perhaps for shock value) in quoting lyrics from Lemonade, and evaluating (though not critically) her portrayal of the African goddess Oshun as an Eve-like figure, introduced a twisted moral relativism that I felt was out of sync with the rest of the book. And it shouldn't be lost on the author that Beyonce and Jay Z are quite ardent and successful capitalists, but merely performative social activists. Well, I guess we all have our blind spots.

All in all, a very informative and culturally significant book. At times, there's questionable phrasing (did Europeans steal Black people from Africa, or did European slavers?) and a bit of navel-gazing, as might be expected from any book promoting philosophical thought. But the greatest compliment I could give would be that I'll be thinking about a lot in the book for quite a while, and I will be the better for it.

Literary mumbo jumbo

I studied a lot of literary and feminist critique in college, and this is no more insightful than hundreds of essays in which authors mistake powerful vocabulary and broad knowledge for good writing and something to say.