By the age of 17, June Eric-Udorie had already changed the UK A-Level curriculum to further include women in politics, and co-founded her own organization, “Youth for Change,” which works to end violence against women in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania and the UK.
Now, as a 20-year-old sophomore at Duke University, Eric-Udorie just published a collection of intersectional feminist essays she edited, entitled “Can We All Be Feminists?”
Eric-Udorie was chosen as one of BBC’s “Inspirational and Influential Women of 2016,” and then later as Elle Magazine’s 2017 Female Activist of the Year.
“People have thrust that label onto me, and I’ve kind of accepted it because of the work that I have done,” Eric-Udorie said on whether she considers herself an activist.
However, she feels there's a gap between her book as a form of activism and traditional activism.
“The work I did getting feminism on the syllabus I consider to be ‘activist work,'" Eric-Udorie said. "But when you think about protest, I’ve never really put my body on the line, I’ve never really done big marches, I’ve never really done those things that you think of when you think of any kind of activism.”
Despite this, the past five years of June’s life have been consumed with activist movements. Even though she does not play a particularly present role in Youth for Change anymore, she still acts as a founding member and offers input when asked, while also touring for her book and participating in numerous speaking engagements.
“To be in college and to have a project of this scope is incredible and really shows an attention to what’s going on and plays into this tradition of Black feminist writing,” said Amanda Ibarra, the events manager at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill who arranged for Eric-Udorie to come speak about her book.
“Can We All Be Feminists?” focuses primarily on the intersectionality of modern feminism, a topic that some feel is lacking in the general discussion of feminist culture.
