Chaia Heller: 
Biography & Selected Works

Chaia Heller grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, a child of middle class Jewish parents. Although her parents were not radical, she was exposed to radical ideas at a very young age by attending an alternative elementary school where she was exposed to non-hierarchical and creative ways of thinking. Ironically, Chaia’s parents didn’t realize the political transformation taking place and thought she would go through life as a “normal” person.

Chaia never stopped being politicized. In her early 20’s she immersed herself in radical politics and moved to Burlington, Vermont to study with Murray Bookchin. She credits her painful encounter with hostility in the left in the form of sexism, homophobia and anti-Semitism as an experience that has concretized her relation to oppression and continually keeps her fighting. These encounters made her realize that a general analysis of hierarchy is not sufficient in itself to undo particular manifestations of hierarchy and oppression.

While pursuing her revolutionary ideas, Chaia worked for many years as a clinical social worker for women struggling with domestic abuse and poverty. Chaia is currently a faculty member at the Institute for Social Ecology in Plainfield, Vermont, where she has taught eco-feminism, among other courses social ecology courses, for many years now. She is also currently pursuing a degree in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts.

Chaia is indebted to Murray Bookchin for his intellectual guidance and generosity of spirit. Chaia also counts among her influences Audre Lourde, James Baldwin, Emma Goldman, Ynestra King, and Peggy Luhrs.