book reviews
Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone – review
In Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, Minna Salami traces how transnational Black feminist scholarship and thought pushes against received Europatriarchal epistemologies. Academically grounded and poetically written, Lydia Ayame Hiraide finds the book an imaginative exploration of the traditions and possibilities of Black feminist knowledge production.
Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone. Minna Salami. Bloomsbury. 2023 (paperback); 2020 (hardback).
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Sensuous Knowledge is a deeply personal and political text; one which speaks often from the first person but reaches towards broader structural questions that frame Black feminist politics across borders today and throughout history. Examining what it means to take a Black feminist approach to life and politics, Minna Salami’s text is organised into nine short and digestible chapters. Each one is named for its specific focus: knowledge, liberation, decolonisation, identity, Blackness, womanhood, sisterhood, power, and beauty. While common themes connect the chapters, it is easy to imagine any one of them forming the basis of an undergraduate or postgraduate reading list – an excellent basis on which to build meaningful classroom debate and discussion. Yet, Sensuous Knowledge clearly speaks beyond the walls of academia too: it is written beautifully, largely eschewing academese and jargonistic terms.
[Salami] reflects on how the dominance of Europatriarchal knowledge constricts our imaginations and the ways that we relate to each other and our lands, and argues for a turn towards “sensuous knowledge”
Salami coins the term “Europatriarchal knowledge” to reflect on how we produce, and are produced by, rigidly defined forms of knowledge. She reflects on how the dominance of Europatriarchal knowledge constricts our imaginations and the ways that we relate to each other and our lands, and argues for a turn towards “sensuous knowledge”. But sensuality is not sensuousness. While there is space for sensuality in sensuousness knowledge, there is a clear distinction between the two. The project to build sensuous knowledge and sensuous ways of knowing speaks to and draws directly from Audre Lorde’s work on the erotic. Lorde insists that the erotic is “is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing”. Sensuous Knowledge taps into this questioning, thus reintegrating the erotic into how we know and relate to the world, rejecting the ways in which it is currently “relegated to the bedroom alone, when it is recognized at all”.
The project to build sensuous knowledge and sensuous ways of knowing speaks to and draws directly from Audre Lorde’s work on the erotic.
Building sensuous knowledge thus demands that we learn to grapple with and embrace “knowledge as a living and breathing entity rather than as a packaged product to passively consume” (15). To know sensuously is to know in a way that “infuses the mind and body with aliveness” for the purposes of “elevation and progress rather than out of an appetite for power” (150). Sensuous knowledge thus makes space for explorations that flow from the body, from spiritual spaces, and, importantly, in partnership with community. It makes space for that which creates joy and pleasure. In many ways, Sensuous Knowledge brings forth a Black feminist politics of pleasure, without disregarding the realities of individual and collective trauma and pain. Sensuous knowledge is built on a holistic, not Cartesian, politics. Such a politics is equipped to address the complex ways in which power shapes psyche, body, and community.
Engaging critically with the insights of a broad range of thinkers and artists – from Lauryn Hill to Fela Kuti to Charlie Chaplin, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Socrates, to name a few – Salami takes a multidisciplinary and multimedia approach to knowledge building.
What is most striking about Sensuous Knowledge is its ability to meaningfully engage with and honour creativity. The book carefully weaves in music, storytelling, and art throughout, evoking these different mediums so vividly that you can almost hear the voices and see the faces of each person invited into the richly textured conversation. Engaging critically with the insights of a broad range of thinkers and artists – from Lauryn Hill to Fela Kuti to Charlie Chaplin, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Socrates, to name a few – Salami takes a multidisciplinary and multimedia approach to knowledge building. If citations are feminist bricks, Salami uses hers to build an impressive and eclectic feminist shelter from which to catalogue and enjoy all the different ways of knowing that the academy has often spurned.
Salami’s work centres relationality, as she thinks through what it means to build sisterhood both literally and metaphorically.
The text itself is deeply sensuous. It is written poetically, invoking luscious imagery with a rich use of metaphor, and drawing on storytelling traditions with equal measures of respect and creativity. Moreover, it makes vital use of African storytelling traditions throughout, reminding us of the potency of stories. As Indigenous scholarship reminds us, stories can provide teachings, warnings, and provoke questions. In many ways, this text evokes Indigenous scholarship that is based on both storytelling and a strong centring of relationality (literally how we relate to each other and the world). If we are Black, women, and working class by way of relation (and not essence) then it is also relevant to note that we are daughters and sisters and friends too. Salami’s work centres relationality, as she thinks through what it means to build sisterhood both literally and metaphorically. Such reflection requires a careful navigation of issues of essentialism and, at moments, the book teeters towards making essentialist claims, though it acknowledges the issues and challenges of doing so.
The text is in dialogue with the important contributions of African American Black feminists. But it does not get trapped in a kind of regionally bound myopia which refuses to see beyond the shores of Turtle Island (or the borders of the lands we call the USA)
Overall, Salami’s Sensuous Knowledge can be read as an ode to Black feminism and a contribution to the Black feminist tradition of knowledge building in its own right, with a refreshing take on Black feminist thought from a deeply transnational perspective. The text is in dialogue with the important contributions of African American Black feminists. But it does not get trapped in a kind of regionally bound myopia which refuses to see beyond the shores of Turtle Island (or the borders of the lands we call the USA). The author’s own transnational experiences and mixed cultural background likely inform this refreshing cosmopolitan approach (Salami is Nigerian-Finnish-Swedish and her blog is titled MsAfropolitan). Her argument for sensuous knowledge is also grounded in the view that Black feminism is enrichened by taking an African-centric approach which is also able to engage with the diasporic nature of Blackness. This diaspora reaches into Europe, across Turtle Island and moves beyond. Hence, the text shows a remarkable ability to hold complexity and contradiction; to think in ways that embrace simultaneity. Its analysis is marked by a both/and mindset, rejecting the binary of either/or. How can we build and encourage a Black feminist politics that is capable of addressing several issues, lands, and communities at once? This is what Sensuous Knowledge asks, without dictating a definitive answer to the reader.
How can we build and encourage a Black feminist politics that is capable of addressing several issues, lands, and communities at once?
Without a doubt, Sensuous Knowledge is an impressive work which embraces a wide range of intellectual traditions across widespread geographies. It demonstrates serious engagement with intellectual and political giants in a way that is largely accessible. Not only does this book define and explore sensuous knowledge; it practices it too. By making simultaneous use of knowledge that is deeply personal, experiential, traditional, and bookish, Sensuous Knowledge breaks academic conventions and asserts the diversity of ways of knowing that colour an abundantly diverse and textured world.
Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The LSE RB blog may receive a small commission if you choose to make a purchase through the above Amazon affiliate link. This is entirely independent of the coverage of the book on LSE Review of Books.
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Nudging – review
In Nudging, Riccardo Viale explores the evolution of nudging (behavioural mechanisms to encourage people to make certain choices) and proposes new approaches that would empower rather than paternalise citizens. In Daniele Sudsataya’s view, the book is an insightful and notable re-evaluation of familiar behavioural economic ideologies.
Nudging. Riccardo Viale. The MIT Press. 2022.
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“Five years after surgery, 90 percent of patients are alive” versus “Five years after surgery, 10 percent of patients died”. This is an example of the framing effect, a type of nudge that suggests an individual’s decision-making can be influenced by the way information is framed and communicated. As explained by Gerd Gigerenzer, if a patient heard the former, positively framed statement, they would typically interpret it as a recommendation for the surgery, while hearing the latter, more negative frame may discourage them. We encounter a myriad of such nudges in our daily lives which attempt to influence us into making certain choices without eliminating our free will.
The framing effect, a type of nudge that suggests an individual’s decision-making can be influenced by the way information is framed and communicated.
For example, a Danish study found that placing more vegetables near the checkout desks in supermarkets led to an increase in vegetable sales. Nudges can thus push us towards making healthy choices, just as easily as they can push us into making unhealthy choices.
This raises the issue: how do we distinguish beneficial nudges from those that are hazardous to our independent decision-making, and can we empower individuals to make choices in their best interest by themselves? This is one of the central topics explored in Riccardo Viale’s book Nudging.
How do we distinguish beneficial nudges from those that are hazardous to our independent decision-making, and can we empower individuals to make choices in their best interest by themselves?
Historically, behavioural economics and their application in different fields would often be neglected in favour of more classically accepted views, such as those in economics. Traditional approaches to economics have viewed individuals as entirely rational beings (Adam Smith’s homo economicus), and as a result treated human affairs through a simple utility-driven lens. However, even among economists, it is now understood that the individual decision-making of humans is susceptible to different cognitive biases, and that one does not always choose the utility-centric option for themselves. This is where the concept of libertarian paternalism comes in, suggesting that certain “correct” choices should be promoted, and that the choice architecture design should be a part of this process, making use of the knowledge gained from cognitive psychology, sociology, and evolutionary social science.
Libertarian paternalism [suggests] that certain ‘correct’ choices should be promoted
Rebonato defines libertarian paternalism (the ideological framework supporting nudges) as a “set of interventions aimed at overcoming people’s stable cognitive biases by exploiting them in such a way as to steer their decisions towards the choices they themselves would make if they were rational”. The assumption here is that individuals fall prey to biases and self-control limitations, hence nudge interventions steer the weak slightly towards the decisions they would make for themselves if they had complete knowledge, unlimited cognitive ability, and strong willpower, as explained by Thaler and Sunstein.
Nudging is the primary intervention used to put libertarian paternalism into action, as it is grounded in Daniel Kahneman’s theory that human mental activity functions more on System 1 (automatic thinking) than System 2 (logical thinking). This idea was subsequently expanded on by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their groundbreaking 2008 book Nudge which made behavioural economics mainstream, and in doing so bridged the gap between cognitive sciences and traditional fields such as economics and policy. Some critics argued that even if nudges are usually used for good, they could also be used to manipulate. Nudging deeply explores this idea, highlighting how we can distinguish between what Viale calls “nudgoods” versus “nudgevils” (157) so that we may strengthen the autonomous decision-making process of individuals without manipulation.
One of Nudging’s most insightful discussions revolves around the idea that despite the policymaker (or choice architect) having great power over human behaviour, they are not exempt from the irrationality and cognitive biases
One of Nudging’s most insightful discussions revolves around the idea that despite the policymaker (or choice architect) having great power over human behaviour, they are not exempt from the irrationality and cognitive biases that can affect the decision making of regular individuals. Phenomena such as groupthink and confirmation bias can impact the design and implementation of behavioural policies. As a result, irrational tendencies in government actions may arise, for example in the selection of information that enters policymaking agendas. Hence, the presence of distortion in nudges is problematic as it implies the possibility of “nudgevils” that come from policymakers themselves.
Our decision-making is heavily dependent on heuristics (shortcuts that enable fast judgments and problem-solving), biases, and other methods that help simplify and adapt to the scenarios at hand.
Viale’s critique in Nudging revolves around the libertarian dimension of nudge theory, as well as the S1 and S2 brain functions proposed by Kahneman. The popular argument propagated by Thaler and Sunstein’s Nudge – which posits nudges as libertarian because they do not take the freedom of choice away from individuals – is based on the constraint that nudges are reversible. Viale, however, argues that overriding automatic S1 decisions through rational S2 mechanisms is incredibly difficult. He explains that much of behavioural economics mistakenly applies economic rationality to human decision-making, where the individual chooses from limited options with known calculated risk. In reality, our decisions typically occur under uncertainty and noncalculable risk. This is why our decision-making is heavily dependent on heuristics (shortcuts that enable fast judgments and problem-solving), biases, and other methods that help simplify and adapt to the scenarios at hand. And so, we return to how the “nudgers” themselves are equally susceptible to these shortcomings: Viale’s Nudging suggests that policymakers should shift from nudges rooted in traditional hedonic paternalism (coercive without appealing to conscious awareness) to an educational paternalism that boosts the individual by increasing their independent reasoning and strengthening their decisional adaptability.
Viale is essentially saying that humans do have the capacity for rationality, and that if they are empowered to make decisions on their own, there won’t be any necessity for libertarian paternalist nudges.
Viale’s suggestion to adopt educational paternalism is a critique of Thaler and Sunstein’s paternalism, which considers the human to lack the necessary levels of rationality to make smart choices independently. The idea of choice reversibility that Thaler and Sunstein argue is a necessary condition to satisfy the libertarian dimension of nudge theory is therefore undermined if the individual does not have enough rationality to go against the nudge, despite their freedom to do so, as they are limited by human inertia, weakness of will, and biases such as status quo. In this circumstance, the only ones who can easily reverse libertarian paternalist nudges are those who have the cognitive ability and willpower to choose the best options by themselves, or in other words, those who do not need to be nudged altogether. In Nudging, Viale is essentially saying that humans do have the capacity for rationality, and that if they are empowered to make decisions on their own, there won’t be any necessity for libertarian paternalist nudges. Rather, nudges that focus on adaptive rationality, perhaps through the simplification of information, will allow us to make the best decisions for our welfare, even under time constraints and limited computational capacities, improving our contribution to society as active participants.
Viale suggests nudges should boost individuals through a process of intellectual empowerment to equip them with rational adaptability, without encroaching on humanity’s natural tendency to use one’s own heuristics and adaptive inclinations.
Viale’s Nudging is a great read for anyone interested in learning more about nudging philosophy thanks to its engaging writing style, and particularly because it excels at being relatable through timely examples of how to identify nudges in everyday life. Viale’s major recommendation is to provide individuals with the tools necessary to self-nudge, debias, and dodge nudges that come with distortions, enabling a form of conscious decision-making. As an attractive end goal, Viale suggests nudges should boost individuals through a process of intellectual empowerment to equip them with rational adaptability, without encroaching on humanity’s natural tendency to use one’s own heuristics and adaptive inclinations. In doing so, Viale’s Nudging achieves a notable revisitation of behavioural economic ideologies, making it essential reading for those interested in the behavioural sciences and their wider application.
Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The LSE RB blog may receive a small commission if you choose to make a purchase through the above Amazon affiliate link. This is entirely independent of the coverage of the book on LSE Review of Books.
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