Reviews for Quiet As It's Kept: Shame, Trauma and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison

The average rating for Quiet As It's Kept: Shame, Trauma and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-08-29 00:00:00 Timothy Pinkham Welch gives an amazing alternative ethic, especially to Western readers. As Westerners, we tend to want to control a situation. When we can't (especially in the political or human rights areas) we become cynical and disengage. Welch gives a way that says we never had control from the beginning. We never know the consequences of our actions. Therefore, we engage issues with informed risk taking. She grounds this ethic in feminist and womanist thinkers. I found this ethic refreshing in a world that seems to force us to make "this or that" choices. This ethic shows that we do not need to settle, but we can creatively resist that "duality" minds that is so pervasive.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-11-18 00:00:00 Miguel Firpi I was introduced to the ethic of risk by a speaker to a social change volunteer group of which I'm a member. This book and its author was that speaker's introduction to the ethic of risk and her vehicle for introducing it to us. It is an academic book, written by a Religious Studies professor and takes some study to get to all the meanings. Welch uses literature by African American women (Paule Marshall, Toni Cafe Bambara, Mildred Turner and Toni Morrison) to construct and illustrate her concepts and argument. She also uses theologists's thought, including that of Paul Tillich. The ethic of risk is encountered when working for social change. Its opposite is the ethic of control. Learning to understand the ethic of risk , learning to understand those who have lived it, can give an activist support to continue in the face of big issues. It is particularly of interest to any activist now, in 2019, when the challenges are huge for social change and social justice. I admit that parts of this book were tough to understand, and it was revised in 2000, originally written in 1989, so some references can be dated. But it is so heloful in learning to see a way through without giving up in despair, and in helping the reader to understand the importance of listening to those who have lived the social challenges all their lives. I'll certsinly be reading the books she discusses. And I'll be reading and studying this book for a long time to come.