Wallaert, S. (2023). Kwaad Spreken: Wie Gelooft de Boze Vrouw?.  Borgerhout: Letterwerk. Review by Alexia Debbaut

Sigrid Wallaert’s Kwaad Spreken: Wie Gelooft de Boze Vrouw? (translation: Knowing Anger: Who Believes the Angry Woman?) is part of the Questa-series essays, a series launched by the Belgian publisher Letterwerk, which foregrounds critical feminist writing. All essays in this series focus on specific topics (such as ethics, love, age, music...) or specific philosophies (like feminist ethics, feminist philosophy, the philosophy of Proust, etc.). Knowing Anger is an important contribution to contemporary feminist debate because it sheds light on the (omni)presence of feminist anger and its epistemic value. As Wallaert puts it, anger is more than the wrapping paper in which you pack your message. It is an essential part of what you have to say (Wallaert, 2023, p. 29). She speaks of an ‘anger turn’, as she sees a new prominence of (the use of) feminist anger in the (non-fiction) publishing industry, the media, the academic world and politics, parallel to Sara Ahmed’s ‘happiness turn.’ Wallaert investigates where this anger comes from and how it is used as an enabling force in feminist activism by using Miranda Fricker’s Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (2007).