Critical Hope

Hope isn't something you have--it's something you do. Here, the 7 principles for practicing critical hope as a radical, subversive act.


Hope is transformational--but in moments of despair, or when you're up against profound injustice, it isn't enough on its own. Hope without action is, at best, naive. At its worst, it tricks you into giving up the power and agency you have to change systems that cause suffering.

Enter critical hope: a spark of passion, an abiding belief that transformation is not just possible, but vital. This is hope in action: a vibrant, engaged practice and commitment to honoring transformative potential across a vast spectrum of experience.

Here, Dr. Kari Grain, PhD, introduces critical hope: what it is, how it works, and why we each need it if we're to be a conduit of change in an unjust world. Inspired by her global research, teaching experiences, and education curriculum taught at the University of British Columbia, Grain argues that to cultivate critical hope (and combat despair), you need to show up with your whole self, in all its messy, passionate, vibrant complexity.

Grain introduces 7 principles for practicing critical hope, including:

• Hope is necessary, but hope alone is not enough

• Critical hope requires an education in difficult knowledge and social justice

• Hopelessness is not a failure of the individual

• The job of a leader is to "unveil opportunities for hope - no matter what the obstacles may be"


Critical Hope interweaves the narratives of activists, leaders, survivors, and educators with vulnerable personal reflections and interdisciplinary research from education, neuroscience, and feminism. It's a timely exploration, a call to action, an ignition of hope and humility for anyone working to build a better world for us all.