Grief as feminist praxis: Love, loss and memory in resistance
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines grief, memory and love as feminist praxis situating intimate loss within the political context of Palestinian dispossession. In March 2025, I received the Emma Goldman Award in Vienna. This coincided with one of the most devastating periods of my life when weeks later, my father Najy Ajour died in Gaza amid genocide, still holding onto hope for reunion. While I carried recognition abroad, my family endured starvation, bombardment and loss. This collision between recognition and grief frames my argument: grief, memory and love operate as feminist praxis. Drawing on feminist scholarship, I propose a politics of memory that treats grief as insurgent, testimony as methodology and love as epistemology. Fragments he left behind, such as coffee saved for my mother and sisters, become wake work carrying memory and resisting erasure. By juxtaposing collective vulnerability in Vienna with the violence of colonization in Gaza, I emphasize the urgency of transnational feminist solidarity. This article advances feminist theory by positioning grief as a site of resistance, knowledge production and cross-border solidarity.
Source: Feminist Theory
Author: Ashjan Ajour
Institution: Birmingham City University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W4415295381