• A pile of open books
08 Mar | Celebration month

Inspiring Reads: Women’s History Month 2024

Women’s History Month started as just a week-long celebration in the 1980s. It has since evolved into a month-long celebration, including International Women's Day on 8 March, that champions women’s rights as well as the achievements of women throughout history. This year's Women’s History Month, staff at the EGI are reviewing their favourite books by and about women.

Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance (London: Verso 2020)

Tilly Varall
Research Assistant, Eleanor Glanville Institute

 

 

In A Kick in the Belly, Stella Dadzie seeks to challenge popular narratives which exclude the experiences and roles of women in the history of the slave trade. As such, Dadzie writes in the discipline of women’s history, a strand of history which seeks to uncover the lost stories of women throughout history.

Dadzie discusses the experience of being Black in Britain today as one characterised by the legacy of slavery and a silence surrounding British colonialism. She describes a lack of provision of Black history in her own education, which pushed her to seek it out for herself, touching on themes of belonging and acceptance in a society which remains largely silent about the atrocities committed to the ancestors of many Black British people today. Here, Dadzie provides a clear link from present to past, framing the experience of Black British women today.

However, this past is too often remembered inaccurately, or not remembered at all. The stories of enslaved women are seldom shared or reflected upon in popular narratives. Dadzie chooses to put a spotlight on these forgotten stories, which see recurring themes of resistance, defiance, and the strength of community. Though it is not commonly remembered, possibly because it is an uncomfortable memory, enslaved women were delt physical punishment to the same extent as enslaved men were. In chapter 5, entitled Enslaved Women and Subversion: The Violence of Turbulent Women, Dadzie discusses the various ways in which enslaved women “fiercely and creatively resisted” this punishment and the control of white slave owners.[1] As Dadzie puts it: “Enslaved women were by no means the passive victims we’ve been led to believe.”[2]

A Kick in the Belly puts a much-needed spotlight on the history of Black women in a way that centres their efforts of resistance to oppression, no matter how big or small. This book is recommended for those wishing to learn more about the experiences of women in the slave trade, and the role that women of colour played in fighting back.

References

[1] Stella Dadzie, A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance (London: Verso, 2020) p. 117.

[2] Ibid., p. 113.

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

Megan Walker
Research Associate, Eleanor Glanville Institute

 

 

Often hailed as the origin of the science fiction genre, Shelley’s novel has been subject to much literary scrutinism by readers from all walks of life (from school children to literary scholars) and has been subject to various adaptations for both screen and stage. Frankenstein is undoubtedly a story of death and re-birth, a topic close to Shelley’s heart after her mother died during her own birth and she suffered the loss of two children herself. The birth of the novel is the result of a ghost-writing competition between Shelley, then Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, her partner Percy Shelley and Lord Byron as they were cooped up in a chalet on Lake Geneva in 1816 due to the darkened sky as a result of the eruption of Mount Tamboro in Indonesia, known as the ‘The Year Without A Summer’. Frankenstein depicts the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who sets himself on a mission to create a human from flesh. However, so horrified by his creation, Frankenstein fails to even give his creation a name and ultimately abandoned him out of disgust for what he had created. The readings of Shelley’s story are almost limitless: from a cautionary tale about the ethical dilemma of scientific advancements; the role of women in procreation; to a critique of the way society treats those who are considered different. Despite all the various readings of the novel, what remains a lesson to be learnt from Frankenstein is how readily overlooked female authors of Shelley’s time were. Often considered a one-novel wonder, Shelley was in fact a very accomplished and talented author, now known for her clever allegorical writing, despite her success frequently being attributed to the influence of her husband at the time. As we hear all too often, Shelley’s literary diversity and talent was only appreciated posthumously, and we must continue her legacy by celebrating her literary genius during Women’s History Month.

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