Fernandes, Leela. Transforming Feminist Practice: Non-Violence, Social Justice, and the Possibilities of a Spiritualized Feminism. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books, 2003. 146 pp.

I recently took a class on feminist activism in which we examined the dichotomy between theory and practice. During the semester it became quite evident that students were overwhelmed by the social justice issues we were examining. Many students defined activism or practice as something that had to create immediate change and that could not take place within the academy. These understandings of practice resulted in feelings of hopelessness because many students did not have the time between work, school, and family obligations to participate in the activist projects we had studied. Shortly after this course ended, I read Leela Fernandes's Transforming Feminist Practice: Non-Violence, Social Justice and the Possibilities of a Spiritualized Feminism. Fernandes's book examines a form of spiritual feminism that deconstructs the false dichotomies between theory/practice, spirituality/religion, and self/other. In five compact chapters, she advocates for a synthesis of spirituality and feminism that allows one to generate alternative visions to social problems in the world.