Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2022

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Introduction

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Healing Power of Rest

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to racism, white supremacy, labor exploitation, health disparities, and racial violence.

Tricia Hersey delves deeply into the theme of The Healing Power of Rest, portraying it as a revolutionary act that intersects with spirituality, self-care, and resistance against systemic oppression. Hersey’s exploration of rest is personal yet universally applicable, emphasizing its role as a healing and transformative force, particularly within communities burdened by the legacies of enslavement, capitalism, and racial injustice.

Hersey’s narrative highlights the intrinsic link between rest and healing, as she argues that rest is not merely the cessation of physical activity but a spiritual practice that nurtures the soul and repairs the wear and tear inflicted by systemic inequalities. She invokes the historical context of enslavement and the exploitation of Black labor to illustrate how rest has been systematically denied to Black people, making the act of resting a form of reclamation and resistance.

In Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, rest is depicted as a sanctuary, a sacred space where individuals can disconnect from the demands of a productivity-driven society. Hersey shares her own experiences and observations, noting how rest has been instrumental in her journey of healing from the traumas of racism and overwork. She describes how rest allowed her to tap into a deeper understanding of herself and her heritage, connecting with the divine and the ancestral wisdom that champions rest as essential for well-being.

Moreover, Hersey’s establishment of the Nap Ministry is a practical manifestation of her beliefs, which provides a communal space where people can experience the healing power of rest. Through the Nap Ministry, she offers a counter-narrative to the capitalist ethos that equates worth with productivity, asserting that rest is a radical act of self-care and empowerment. Hersey’s ministry becomes a platform for collective healing, where participants can escape the grind culture, reflect, rejuvenate, and connect with a shared historical and cultural identity that values rest as a source of strength and liberation.

Furthermore, Hersey expands on the theme by connecting rest with the concept of DreamSpace, a mental and spiritual space where individuals can engage with their hopes, desires, and imaginations free from the constraints of oppressive systems. She argues that rest is not passive but is an active engagement with one’s inner world, which offers possibilities for creativity, vision, and resistance against the narratives imposed by a capitalistic society.

The healing power of rest, as discussed by Hersey, is also not just about individual recuperation. It is a collective healing directed at repairing historical wounds, acknowledging past traumas, and crafting a future that honors rest as a fundamental right, especially for those who have been historically marginalized and exploited.

The Critique of Capitalism and White Supremacy

Hersey’s narrative articulates a critique of capitalism and white supremacy through the lens of personal, familial, and communal experiences, particularly within the Black community. Hersey shares her personal journey, where her initiation into the culture of rest as resistance began amidst the demands of a “brutally busy graduate program” and the omnipresent threats of racial violence and financial instability (3). Her own experience with exhaustion and the transformative power of rest serves as a microcosm for the collective fatigue experienced by Black individuals under the weight of systemic oppression.

Hersey’s narrative is rich with examples from her family history that illuminate the intergenerational impact of white supremacy and capitalism. She recounts the stories of her ancestors, like her great-grandmother Rhodie, who stayed up late with a pistol in her apron pocket to protect her family from the Ku Klux Klan. This personal family history exemplifies the physical and psychological toll of living under constant threat due to racist violence—a direct legacy of white supremacist structures.

The book also draws on the broader historical context of Black people’s labor exploitation, tracing its roots back to the era of enslavement and the Jim Crow South. Hersey describes how the capitalist system, built on the stolen labor and dreams of her ancestors, continues to exploit Black bodies. She emphasizes how this historical exploitation has evolved into the modern grind culture that disproportionately affects Black communities and forces them to work to the point of exhaustion.

Hersey shares memories of her grandmother, Ora, who, despite the weariness from a life of labor and migration during the Great Migration, instituted a daily practice of resting her eyes. Hersey highlights this act of resistance against the grind culture and the relentless pace of capitalist productivity as a form of reclaiming autonomy and dignity.

Moreover, Hersey connects her critique to the broader social context, illustrating how the systemic devaluation of Black lives and labor is perpetuated through capitalist mechanisms that prioritize profit over people. She critiques the relentless pace of work that capitalism demands, which leaves no room for rest or recovery, thus perpetuating a cycle of physical and mental depletion.

Throughout the book, Hersey weaves these personal and collective histories into a compelling argument that the act of resting is not only a form of self-care but also a subversive act against the capitalist and white supremacist systems that seek to commodify and exhaust Black bodies. She frames her call to embrace rest as a form of resistance and a radical act of reclaiming time, space, and dignity from the oppressive grasp of these interlocking systems of power.

The Importance of Community Care and Self-Care

Hersey delves deeply into the importance of community care and self-care, setting this theme against the backdrop of a society driven by capitalism and white supremacy. Hersey presents these forms of care not merely as acts of individual wellness but as essential practices of collective resistance and healing. The narrative weaves personal anecdotes with broader socio-political commentary, which illustrates how systemic pressures erode individual and communal well-being.

Hersey’s journey to understanding rest as a radical act begins with her personal experiences, where the demands of graduate school and the pressures of living as a Black woman in America led her to prioritize rest as a form of self-preservation and protest. She recounts her own exhaustion and the realization that rest was crucial for her survival and challenges the pervasive culture of overwork that is particularly oppressive for Black communities.

The book details the historical context of rest as resistance, tracing back to the times of enslavement when rest was denied to Black people, making clear that the contemporary undervaluing of rest in Black communities is a legacy of white supremacist structures. Hersey points out that the denial of rest has long been a tool of oppression, a theme she explores by linking it to her personal and familial experiences. She describes the rest practices of her ancestors, like her grandmother, who, despite the exhausting realities of the Great Migration and life in the Jim Crow South, found ways to incorporate moments of rest into daily life, which signals the quiet defiance and resilience that underpin community care in Black-American history.

Hersey thus expands the conversation around self-care to include community care, highlighting how collective practices of rest and care are acts of resistance against the capitalist exploitation of labor. She critiques the individualistic nature of mainstream self-care rhetoric, which often ignores the systemic barriers to rest, particularly for marginalized communities. Through the narrative of her father’s life and death, Hersey illustrates the toll that relentless work and societal neglect of rest take on individuals and families, emphasizing the need for a supportive community that values and practices care collectively.

Furthermore, the Nap Ministry, founded by Hersey, exemplifies her commitment to community care as a form of resistance. It serves as a practical manifestation of her philosophy, creating spaces where individuals can come together to rest, which reflects a collective reclamation of time and energy from the demands of a productivity-obsessed culture. Hersey’s ministry emphasizes the idea that community care and self-care are interconnected, with community-supported rest providing a foundation for personal and collective healing and empowerment.

Throughout the book, Hersey argues that embracing rest and care is a revolutionary act that challenges the very foundations of capitalist and white supremacist ideologies. Hersey envisions a society where community care and self-care are recognized as essential to dismantling oppressive systems and fostering a more just and compassionate world.