Bell hooks

Infobox Writer
name = bell hooks


imagesize = 154
caption =
pseudonym = bell hooks
birthname = Gloria Jean Watkins
birthdate = birth date and age|1952|09|25
birthplace = Hopkinsville, Kentucky, USA
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Author, feminist, social activist
notableworks = ' ' "We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity"
spouse =
parents = Veodis Watkins and Rosa Bell Watkins
children =
influences = Sojourner Truth, Paulo Freire, Gustavo Gutierrez, Erich Fromm, Lorraine Hansberry, Thich Nhat Hanh, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr.
influenced =

Gloria Jean Watkins (born September 25, 1952), better known by the pen name bell hooks, [hooks, bell, "Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black" (South End Press, 1989) ISBN 0896083527] [cite news |author=Dinitia Smith |title=Tough arbiter on the web has guidance for writers |work=The New York Times |date=2006-09-28 |page=E3 |quote=But the Chicago Manual says it is not all right to capitalize the name of the writer bell hooks because she insists that it be lower case. |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/books/28chic.html] is an American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing has focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She has published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in various public lectures. Primarily through a postmodern female perspective, she has addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, mass media and feminism.

Biography

Early life

Gloria Jean Watkins was born on September 25, 1952 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She grew up in a working class family with five sisters and one brother. Her father, Veodis Watkins, was a custodian and her mother, Rosa Bell Watkins, was a homemaker. Throughout her childhood, she was an avid reader.

Her early education took place in racially segregated public schools, and she wrote of great adversities when making the transition to an integrated school, where teachers and students were predominantly white. She graduated from Hopkinsville High School in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, earned her B.A. in English from Stanford University in 1973 and her M.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1976. In 1983, after several years of teaching and writing, she completed her doctorate in the literature department from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a dissertation on author Toni Morrison.

Career

Her teaching career began in 1976 as an English professor and senior lecturer in Ethnic Studies at the University of Southern California. During her three years there, Golemics (Los Angeles) released her first published work, a chapbook of poems titled "And There We Wept" (1978), written under her pen name, "bell hooks". She adopted the names from her mother and grandmother. According to her, the name's unconventional lowercasing signifies what is most important in her works: the "substance of books, not who I am." [cite web | title=bell hooks Speaks Up | url=http://www.thesandspur.org/media/storage/paper623/news/2006/02/10/News/Bell-Hooks.Speaks.Up-1602355.shtml?norewrite200609102135&sourcedomain=www.thesandspur.org | author=Heather Williams | work=The Sandspur (2/10/06) | accessdate = 2006-09-10]

She taught at several post-secondary institutions in the early 1980s, including the University of California, Santa Cruz and San Francisco State University. South End Press (Boston) published her first major work, "" in 1981, written while she was a graduate student. In the decades since its publication, "Ain't I a Woman?" has gained widespread recognition as an influential contribution to postmodern feminist thought. [Google Scholar shows 894 citations of "Ain't I a Woman" (as of August 30 2006)]

"Ain’t I a Woman?" examines several recurring themes in her later work: the historical impact of sexism and racism on black women, devaluation of black womanhood, media roles and portrayal, the education system, the "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy," the marginalization of black women, and the disregard for issues of race and class within feminism.

Since the publication of "Ain’t I a Woman?", she has become eminent as a leftist and postmodern political thinker and cultural critic. She targets and appeals to a broad audience by presenting her work in a variety of media using various writing and speaking styles. As well as having written books, she has published numerous scholarly and mainstream magazines, lectures at widely accessible venues, and appears in various documentaries.

She has published more than 30 books, ranging in topics from black men, patriarchy and masculinity to self-help, engaged pedagogy to personal memoirs, and sexuality (in regards to feminism and politics of aesthetic/visual culture). A prevalent theme in her most recent writing is the community and communion, the ability of loving communities to overcome race, class, and gender. In three conventional books and four children's books, she demonstrates that communication and literacy (the ability to read, write, and think critically) are the quintessential to developing healthy communities and relationships that are not marred by race, class, or gender inequalities.

She has held positions as Professor of African and Afro-American Studies and English at Yale University, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and American Literature at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and as Distinguished Lecturer of English Literature at the City College of New York.

A commencement speech hooks gave in 2002 at Southwestern University was considered controversial. Eschewing the congratulatory mode of traditional commencement speeches, she spoke of government-sanctioned violence and oppression, and admonished students who went with the flow. The speech was booed by many in the audience, though "several graduates passed over the provost to shake her hand or give her a hug." [ [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A93217 The Austin Chronicle: News: Hooks Digs In ] ]

In 2004 she joined forces with Berea College in Berea, Kentucky as Distinguished Professor in Residence, [http://www.berea.edu/catalog/officers.asp] where she participated in a weekly feminist discussion group, "Monday Night Feminism", a luncheon lecture series, "Peanut Butter and Gender" and a seminar, "Building Beloved Community: The Practice of Impartial Love".

She is currently working on a book entitled "belonging: a culture of place," which will include a very candid interview with author Wendell Berry as well as a discussion of her move back to Kentucky.

Influences

Her influences include abolitionist and feminist Sojourner Truth (whose speech "Ain't I a Woman?" inspired her first major work), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (whose perspectives on education she embraces in her theory of engaged pedagogy), theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, psychologist Erich Fromm, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, writer James Baldwin, black nationalist leader Malcolm X, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr (who addresses how the strength of love unites communities). [ [http://www.iapl.info/CONFERENCE_HISTORY/IAPL_2001/iapl_2001_keynote_speaker.htm Notes on IAPL 2001 Keynote Speaker, bell hooks] ] [ [http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1844 Building a Community of Love, bell hooks & Thich Nhat Hanh] ]

Criticism

Bell hooks has attracted a measure of criticism from other writers; David Horowitz made light of her statement that "it is difficult not to hear in standard English always the sound of slaughter and conquest" ("Teaching to Transgress", p.169), ["Top 10 Most Dangerous Academics in America," "Human Events," February 13 2006, p.10] while Peter Schweizer has accused her of hypocrisy in sexual politics. ["," Peter Schweizer, Doubleday, 2005, p.9 cite book|title=|isbn=0385513496 |oclc=62110441]

One passage Horowitz specifically objected to is a discussion in the first chapter of "Killing Rage", in which she states that she is "sitting beside an anonymous white male that [she] long [s] to murder". [hooks, bell. "Killing Rage", p. 8. Henry Holt & Co. New York, NY. 1995 cite book|title=|isbn=0805037829|oclc=32089130] She explains that her impulse was occasioned by a ticket/boarding pass error resulting in the harassment of her black, female friend; she sees this dispute as symbolic of the role of racism and sexism in American society.

Awards and nominations

* "Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics": The American Book Awards/ Before Columbus Foundation Award (1991)
* "Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism": "One of the twenty most influential women’s books in the last 20 years" by "Publishers Weekly" (1992)
* bell hooks: The Writer’s Award from the Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund (1994)
* "Happy to Be Nappy": NAACP Image Award nominee (2001)
* "Homemade Love": The Bank Street College Children's Book of the Year (2002)
* "Salvation: Black People and Love": Hurston Wright Legacy Award nominee (2002)
* bell hooks: "Utne Reader"'s "100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life"
* bell hooks: "The Atlantic Monthly"'s "One of our nation’s leading public intellectuals"

elect bibliography

*"" (1981) ISBN 0-89608-129-X
*"" (2000) ISBN 0-06-095947-9
*cite book |title=And There We Wept: Poems |publisher=(1978) |oclc=6230231
*"Art on My Mind: Visual Politics" (1995) ISBN 1-56584-263-4
*"Be Boy Buzz" (2002) ISBN 0-7868-0814-4
*"Black Looks: Race and Representation" (1992) ISBN 0-89608-433-7
*"Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood" (1996) ISBN 0-8050-5512-6
*"Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life" (1991) (with Cornel West) ISBN 0-89608-414-0
*"Communion: The Female Search for Love" (2002) ISBN 0-06-093829-3
*"Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics" (2000) ISBN 0-89608-629-1
*"Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" (1984) ISBN 0-89608-614-3
*"Happy to be Nappy" (1999) ISBN 0-7868-0427-0
*"Homemade Love" (2002) ISBN 0-7868-0643-5
*"Justice: Childhood Love Lessons" (2000)cite book|title=|isbn=0688168442|oclc=41606283
*"Killing Rage: Ending Racism" (1995) ISBN 0-8050-5027-2
*"Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations" (1994) ISBN 0-415-90811-6
*"Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies" (1996) cite book|title=|isbn=0415918235|oclc=35229108
*"Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work" (1999) ISBN 0-8050-5910-5
*"Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-esteem" (2003) ISBN 0-7434-5605-X
*"Salvation: Black People and Love" (2001) ISBN 0-06-095949-5
*"Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-recovery" (1993) ISBN 1-896357-99-7
*"Skin Again" (2004) ISBN 0-7868-0825-X
*"Soul Sister: Women, Friendship, and Fulfillment" (2005) ISBN 0-89608-735-2
*"Space" (2004) ISBN 0-415-96816-X
*"Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black" (1989) ISBN 0-921284-09-8
*"Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope" (2003) ISBN 0-415-96817-8
*"Teaching to Transgress: Education As the Practice of Freedom" (1994) ISBN 0-415-90808-6
*""(2004) ISBN 0-415-96926-3
*"Where We Stand: Class Matters" (2000) ISBN 9780415929134
*"The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love" (2003) ISBN 0-7434-5607-6
*"Witness" (2006) ISBN 0-89608-759-X
*"Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life" (1997) ISBN 0-8050-5722-6
*"Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics" (1990) ISBN 0-921284-34-9

Film appearances

*"Black Is, Black Ain't" (1994)cite book|title=|oclc=36053370cite book|title=|oclc=58600841 cite book|title=|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109285/
*"Give a Damn Again" (1995)cite book|title=|oclc=35966136cite book|title=|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113177/
*"Cultural Criticism and Transformation" (1997)
*"My Feminism" (1997)
*"I am a Man: Black masculinity in America" (2004)
*"Voices of Power" (1999)
*"Baadasssss Cinema" (2002)
*"Writing About a Revolution: A talk" (2004)
*"Happy to Be Nappy and other stories of me" (2004)
*"Is Feminism Dead?" (2004)

Further reading

* Florence, Namulundah. "bell hooks's Engaged Pedagogy." Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1998. ISBN 0-89789-564-9 cite book|title=|oclc=38239473
* Leitch et al, eds. "Bell Hooks." "The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism." New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. pages 2475-2484. ISBN 0-393-97429-4 cite book|title=|oclc=45023141
* South End Press Collective, eds. "Critical Consciousness for Political Resistance"Talking About a Revolution."Cambridge: South End Press, 1998. 39-52. ISBN 0-89608-587-2 cite book|title=|oclc=38566253
* Stanley, Sandra Kumamoto, ed. "Other Sisterhoods: Literary Theory and U.S. Women of Color." Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998. ISBN 0-252-02361-7 cite book|title=|oclc=36446785
* Wallace, Michelle. "Black Popular Culture." New York: The New Press, 1998. ISBN 1-56584-459-9 cite book|title=|oclc=40548914
*cite book |last=Whitson |first=Kathy J. |title=Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=0313327319 |oclc=54529420

External links

* [http://www.allaboutbell.com/ All About bell] (biography, interviews, articles, and book information)
* [http://www.com.washington.edu/Program/publicscholarship/ps_marwick.pdf Crossing Boundaries, Reaching Out: The Public Scholarship of bell hooks] (article by Alice Marwick)
* [http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/hooks.htm Ejournal website] (several critical resources for bell hooks)
* [http://www.realchangenews.org/archive3/2005_03_09/current/interview.html Real Change News] (interview with hooks by Rosette Royale)
* [http://www.shambhalasun.com/Archives/Columnists/Hooks/hooks.htm bell hooks articles published in Shambhala Sun Magazine]
* [http://www.southendpress.org/authors/46 South End Press] (books by hooks published by South End Press)
* [http://www.library.ucsb.edu/libwaves/mar00/hooks.html University of California, Santa Barbara] (biographical sketch of hooks)
* [http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Articles_Gen/Postmodern_Blackness_18270.html "Postmodern Blackness"] (article by hooks)
* [http://www.wholeterrain.org/bio.cfm?Contributor_ID=198 Whole Terrain] (articles by hooks published in Whole Terrain)
* [http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/dec95hooks.htm Z Magazine - Challenging Capitalism & Patriarchy] (interviews with hooks by Third World Viewpoint)
* [http://ascentmagazine.com/articles.aspx?articleID=133&page=read&subpage=past&issueID=24 Ingredients of Love] (an interview with ascent magazine)

References