Critical Hope

How to Grapple with Complexity, Lead with Purpose, and Cultivate Transformative Social Change

By: Kari Grain

Narrated by: Kari Grain

Introducing the 7 principles for practicing critical hope—because hope isn’t something you have; it’s something you do.


Each person has a unique, ever-changing relationship to hope.

Hope alone can be 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 a commitment to honoring transformative potential across a vast spectrum of experience.

Dr. Kari Grain, PhD, offers 7 principles for practicing critical hope:

• Hope is necessary, but hope alone is not enough
• Critical hope is not something you have; it’s something you practice.
• Critical hope is messy, uncomfortable, and full of contradictions.
• Critical hope is intimately entangled with the body and the land
• Critical hope requires bearing witness to social and historical trauma
• Critical hope requires interruptions and invitations
• Anger and grief have a seat at the table

The principles for practicing critical hope are not what you might think: they confront toxic positivity and take up discomfort, social injustices, and an ethos of hospitality toward anger and grief. But held in this same space is a love for connection—and an honoring of what makes you feel alive.

Inspired by her global research, teaching experiences, and education curriculum taught at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Grain shows that to cultivate critical hope—and combat despair—you need to show up with your whole self, in all its messy, passionate, vibrant complexity.

©2022 Kari Grain (P)2022 North Atlantic Books

Critic reviews

“In an age when we so often feel overwhelmed by the enormity of trauma in our communities and our world, Dr. Grain’s book couldn’t be more relevant and applicable. It is a compendium on hope in a way you’ve never seen before, and mixes academia with real, raw, and honest storytelling. It cannot be missed.” - Candace Salmon, lawyer and cofounder of Reflections on Rwanda

“It is rare that one reads a book where the writer is so open and honest. One cannot help but admire the courage with which Kari Grain has dealt with the adversities she encountered in her life. On a larger scale, Grain shows an acute awareness of the challenging problems facing the world right now and the renewed strength and skills that will be essential to deal with these difficulties now and in the future. Emily Dickinson wrote that hope is that thing with feathers. In her book, Kari Grain makes hope fly.” - Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust survivor and author of Memories in Focus

“This is a beautiful book with a powerful takeaway: the critical part of hope is seeded and nurtured by discomfort and humility. Grain’s deep connection to teaching helps us see how we can enter hopeful space with others. For me, the stories that Grain relays of friends, acquaintances, and coworkers navigating critical hope were icing on the cake - it’s Grain’s own experience as an educator and a seeker, guided by justice, that really catches us up and shows us the way.” - Tristin K. Green, professor of law at the University of San Francisco and author of Discrimination Laundering