Abstract
Giada Bonu Rosenkranz, with her work, Safer spaces, feminist movements and emotions, has made a timely contribution to feminist studies, especially given the conservative backlash that threatens gender rights throughout Europe. Rosenkranz criticizes reductive ideas of safety and thus supports the role of affect and emotions in sustaining profit-oriented collective feminist practices. Her study is based on four years of participatory action research carried out in feminist communities in Rome and Madrid from 2017 to 2021.
The central thesis of the book is that safer spaces are dynamic spaces where emotional work and feelings are translated into political action. Rosenkranz understands safety as a continuous process, not an endpoint. For her, safety is the mode in which feminist space creates a sense of what she defines as “eventful affect,” embodied relations that generate energy towards social transformation (p. 217). The goal of this theoretical intervention is to create an interdisciplinary bridge connecting three distinct fields—affect theory, social movement studies, and feminist praxis—to produce meaningful results for both scholars and activists.
Methodologically, Rosenkranz represents an excellent example of feminist research praxis, combining constructivist grounded theory with more corporeal and emotive ethnography in a way that places participants in the position of being co-producers of knowledge. The case study of three feminist spaces in each city—Rome and Madrid—provides important insight into the tactics with which feminist spaces protect autonomy and interact with institutional frameworks. The significance of feminist spaces proves to be particularly meaningful in situations where state feminism leans toward marginalizing trans rights, sex-work advocacy, and racial-justice agendas.
The strength of the book lies in its delicate examination of emotions as an asset and a locus of politics. Rosenkranz demonstrates that feminist space plays a crucial role in developing emotional infrastructures, thereby fostering collective welfare and opposing a neoliberal ideology of individualism. Her focus on affective dimensions necessary for creating the conditions in which political participation is possible, namely comfort, warmth, and care, is helpful in the work of social workers who strive to build lasting movements. Participants claim that they feel genuinely cared for, which makes it easy to participate and leads to some social interactions outside the neoliberal regulations. Cases of ethnographic evidence, such as the Casa Internazionale delle Donne in Rome and the Espacios de Igualdad in Madrid, can serve as examples of how theoretical concepts can be put into practice.
Particularly compelling is Rosenkranz's analysis of tensions between autonomous feminist spaces and institutional power. She clarifies the strategic dilemmas the movements face, trying to obtain resources and sustain radical change. Her analysis of how institutional feminism can restrict radical demands, and, at the same time, make available organizational forms that are nimble, highlights the perplexing politics of contemporary feminists. Rosenkranz's comparative analysis is especially relevant to social work educators who teach policy advocacy and community organizing.
However, the book has limitations. Those readers who are not familiar with affect theory might find it challenging to comprehend the concept of “imperceptibility” without additional clarification (p. 2). The book could have been improved by clarifying the distinction between theoretical input and practical application in social work practice. Although women, trans, and non-binary voices are brought to the foreground in this work, a greater emphasis on the intersectionality of race, social status, and migration status would have increased the text's analytic depth.
The writing style occasionally employs academic jargon, limiting its reach beyond scholarly audiences. Social workers who seek practical directives might wish that a more specific, evidence-based set of recommendations were provided. Additionally, the European focus raises questions about transferability to feminist movements in the Global South or contexts with different political economies.
Despite these limitations, the book makes vital contributions to feminist scholarship. For social work education researchers, this book provides a substantial volume of rigorous academic material that will be helpful for course design in community practice, social movement theory, and gender-based violence. The practitioners are also bound to be inspired by written reports of successful feminist groups developing alternative care economies that do not bow to the pressure of neoliberal austerity. The book's discussion of the importance of direct contact with women who flee interpersonal and domestic violence and of increasing community awareness provides specifically pertinent information to social workers deployed in an anti-violence campaign.
Overall, Safer spaces, feminist movements and emotions: Affect into action is a critical resource for researchers of gender and social movements, social workers in feminist praxis, and sociologists engaged in creating sustainable political communities. Although the theoretical nature of the writing might put some readers off, the details about the emotional labor that infuses feminist movements make the scholar's work indisputably important. As feminist movements continue to mount a global revolt against rising authoritarianism, Rosenkranz's work can serve as both an analytical tool and a source of political hope. She recognizes the work as complex and largely invisible in creating spaces where feminist futures can be found.
