S+A’s Bookshelf 

S+A’s Bookshelf: Thinking Like an Abolitionist with Dr. Nadeeka Karunaratne

Interview By: Sara Wilf, Nohely Hernandez Pineda, Ava Calbreath, & Kalani Phillips

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Introduction to the book: Thinking Like an Abolitionist to End Sexual Violence in Higher Education was published in 2024 by Routledge Press. In this book, authors Chris Linder, Nadeeka Karunaratne, and Niah S. Grimes draw on abolitionist theories and frameworks to explore why universities are failing to address sexual violence on their campuses. The book offers strategies for higher education leaders, activists, policymakers, and others to foster healing and promote accountability. You can learn more about the book and order it here.

Survivors + Allies reached out to Nadeeka Karunaratne, Ph.D., to learn more about the book and why it was a meaningful project for her. Nadeeka graduated from UCLA and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Utah’s McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. Dr. Karunaratne’s research promotes healing in higher education through centering the experiences of minoritized individuals using power-conscious frameworks such as intersectionality. Thank you for all that you do, Dr. Karunaratne!

What prompted you to write this book/ why was this book needed?

Chris, Niah, and I have each worked in higher education as educators, researchers, and practitioners, including as counselors, advocates, and prevention educators. We've seen firsthand how so much of the response to sexual violence in higher education has mirrored the punitive, carceral approaches to issues of sexual violence in broader society, which many scholars and organizers have written about (e.g., Angela Davis, Mariame Kaba, Andrea Ritchie, Mimi Kim, and many others). These approaches have not worked - in higher education or otherwise - to prevent sexual violence or address the needs of survivors. We've experienced and witnessed the ways our current structures fail survivors, particularly minoritized survivors. Driven by the work of abolitionist thinkers, dreamers, and doers, we wanted to offer a way of thinking about and responding to sexual violence in higher education that disrupted punitive approaches and was rooted in love, accountability, and abundance. 

Who is this book for?

This book is for practitioners, activists, educators, and leaders within higher education - whether they specifically focus on sexual violence prevention and response or not. It's also for folks engaging in sexual violence response and prevention work of any kind outside of higher education institutions. Mostly, we hope the lessons in this book are relevant for anyone wishing to interrupt and remedy harm in their lives, personally and professionally. 

What parts of this book are most meaningful to you?

I learned so much from Chris and Niah and abolitionist thinkers, dreamers, and doers who have informed our collective work. A central principle of thinking like an abolitionist is engaging in critical reflection about our own ways of being and relating to those in our lives. Through this critical reflection, which is often more powerful when done in community and with others, we can work toward decarcerating our minds - paying attention to the ways we incorporate the logics of punishment, control, and surveillance in our everyday thinking and actions - and living out accountability in our daily lives. I often quote Adrienne Maree Brown's reference to the wisdom of her mentor Grace Lee Boggs: "Transform yourself to transform the world." I think this is a key part of our work and necessary for ending sexual violence within and beyond higher education.

Do you have any advice for organizers who want to use this book in their work?

While we wrote the book addressing the specific context of sexual violence in higher education, we hope the overarching principles and practices can be applicable for organizers in different spaces. The final two chapters discuss strategies and ways that we can all make meaningful change, with our unique gifts, within our spheres. The book contains reflection questions and calls to action at the end of each chapter that may be useful and practical tools for organizers, as they can be used individually or in collective spaces. Additionally, Chapter 5, which discusses Healing as Abolitionist praxis, includes healing practices that can be used in an individual or communal way.