Ungrievable Lives

Reviews / Votes

Ungrievable Lives is an incredibly well written book which cuts to the core of the fatal logics of racism. Using a wide range of case studies and examples in a transnational frame, Spratt eloquently demonstrates how the construction of grievability - and the valuation of life and death more broadly - is a deeply racialised process which sits at the very foundation of our social world. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in the contemporary biopolitics of race, the sociology of violence, and the sociology of valuation. * Ali Meghji, University of Cambridge, UK * Ungrievable Lives is a book with fortitude. It challenges us to confront our unjust world without retreating into optimism, pessimism, sentimentality, or despair. Tanisha Spratt searingly illuminates the racialised cruelty of neoliberal social structures that promote individualism and self-reliance while treating too many people as disposable. An astute observer of the operations of racism on both sides of the Atlantic, Spratt compellingly shows that a more just society is only achievable through recognition of our unequally distributed but profoundly shared vulnerability. * Anne Pollock, King's College London, UK *