Critical Hope

Praise

“In an age when we so often feel overwhelmed by the enormity of trauma in our communities and our world, Dr. Grain’s book couldn’t be more relevant and applicable. It is a compendium on hope in a way you’ve never seen before, and mixes academia with real, raw, and honest storytelling. It cannot be missed.”
—Candace Salmon, lawyer and cofounder of Reflections on Rwanda

“It is rare that one reads a book where the writer is so open and honest. One cannot help but admire the courage with which Kari Grain has dealt with the adversities she encountered in her life. On a larger scale, Grain shows an acute awareness of the challenging problems facing the world right now and the renewed strength and skills that will be essential to deal with these difficulties now and in the future. Emily Dickinson wrote that hope is that thing with feathers. In her book, Kari Grain makes hope fly.”
—Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust survivor and author of Memories in Focus

“I wish I had written this book. I have lived with the concept of critical hope without ever having had a name for it. This book told me something that I needed to know. Everyone should read it.”
—Douglas Courtemanche, MD

“This is a beautiful book with a powerful takeaway: the critical part of hope is seeded and nurtured by discomfort and humility. Grain’s deep connection to teaching helps us see how we can enter hopeful space with others. For me, the stories that Grain relays of friends, acquaintances, and coworkers navigating critical hope were icing on the cake—it’s Grain’s own experience as an educator and a seeker, guided by justice, that really catches us up and shows us the way.”
—Tristin K. Green, professor of law at the University of San Francisco and author of Discrimination Laundering

“It is a beautiful experience to read something that is so emotional, critical, and academic. I wish there was more writing like this.”
—Emily Yee Clare, anti-racism educator and equity consultant

“Critical Hope is an important contribution to not only the field of education, but also the political realm that encompasses the world as invisible architecture. Grain’s emphasis on deepening structural analysis, praxis, and somatics, including the important work of metabolizing grief, are part of a time-tested trinity to become more contextually relevant beings. Given the current context, this is the urgent and eternal work of our times.”
—Alnoor Ladha, cofounder of The Rules, council chair for Culture Hack Labs, and coauthor of Post-Capitalist Philanthropy