Through a multiplicity of voices and journeys, this anthology highlights the everyday lives, experiences, energies and spirits of non-conformist wom!n (i.e., women, womyn, womxn-however, self-identified) from around the globe. While recentering stories of transformation through non-conformism, these narratives explore what is so hard, but also so good, about being a wom!n-especially in a century mired by deep contradiction, yet rife with unparalleled hope. Using diverse mediums from poetry, essays and interviews to artwork, photography and illustration, the collection presents stories from perceived 'margins'-what we like to describe as, the sharp edge of going against the grain.
The stories also metaphorically represent the mobility, multiplicity, intersectionality and dynamism of female identity. In all cases, identity-making and/or -breaking is viewed as the result of each wom!n's agentic determination, no matter how seemingly small her act of resistance might be. At the same time, each wom!n, may also well defy conventional categories of what being a 'rebel' would entail, or even reject the term outright.
Taken together, these collective voices relay visions, strategies, and hopes about what it means to take on, discard, or subvert gendered categorizations simultaneously inflected by 'race', ethnicity, class, language, sexuality, religious affiliation, generation, and other forms of intersectional identity markers. They do so across diverse contexts, from agricultural fields and marketplaces to medical spaces, exhibition galleries, the halls of academia, and more.
