Bell Hooks Identity

Hooks expresses when growing up she consider her family as poor because of how large her family was and how they had enough money to make ends meet. Although, her family was among the working class, when she went off to college she began to she herself as poor. Hooks states that she had scholarships and loans to attend Stanford University, but her parents were concerned with how she was going to pay for getting there, the things she needed for classes, and for emergencies. She says she spent her breaks, when she couldn’t go home, with the black women who cleaned the dormitories. Hooks states that they were more likely to understand where she was coming form than other individual who attend Stanford. She claims they supported and affirmed her efforts to be educated.

Sitting on the porch with her sisters, hooks saw that “next to the white drivers in the front would be the dog and in the back seat the black worker.” This subtle image taught hooks the “interconnectedness of race and class,” and a demeaning message that white people placed animals ahead of African-Americans. Taking the high road, hooks attempted to spark conversation with her white neighbors; however, she was turned down and ridiculed. While trying to be friendly, hooks was told that “they came to this side of town to be rid of lazy blacks.” Time and time again racial and sexist tensions worked against Hooks, but instead of letting injustice get the best of her she made her porch a place of “antiracist resistance.” Hooks’ porch was an oasis in the male/white desert that dried up her life. On hooks’ porch she could experience the peace and joy she had as a child sitting on her porch with her sisters before her father came home. Hooks could have talked back to the white people that mocked her, but instead she chose the high road and conquered race with peace.

Finally, hooks used the strategy of cause and effect in her writings. She writes “Since our society continues to be a primarily ‘Christian’ culture, masses of people continue to believe that God has ordained that women be subordinate to men in the domestic household.” (hooks, pg2) By writing this, she effectively analyzes the cause of the problems, and why our culture continues to be sexist. For those who have scientific minds, this statement carries

Throughout the course of Coming of Age in Mississippi, readers observe as Anne Moody undergoes a rigorous transformation – the period of adolescence proves to be years of growth and exposure for Moody. As a child, she is aware of the difference in treatment between whites and blacks – however, she is oblivious to the reason why. It is not until Emmett Till’s murder that Moody really becomes aware of what is happening in the world around her. Prior to August of 1955, Moody had been so consumed with school, work and family that she didn’t pay very much attention to race relations. It’s a point of awakening when she finally grasps the hatred that whites in Mississippi have for blacks – she now begins to understand why her family had lived through such inhumane conditions. As Moody begins to understand the concept of race and equality, she thus realizes which side of the spectrum black people are placed on. On the other hand, Moody’s mama Toosweet, has long endured the brutal callousness of Chattel Slavery -- as a result she holds a different perspective than Moody. Their differing viewpoints often lead to tension between the two characters; this essay will examine and compare the psychological effects of Chattel Slavery on Moody and her mother.

I think that Hooks, while doing this unintentionally, she provides white people with pleasure by watching the movie and ridiculing it. Hooks goes on to say that when she was watching the movie with, “a black woman friend, [they] were disturbed by the extent to which white folks around [them] were “entertained” and “pleasured” by scenes we viewed as sad and at times tragic” (154). The “white folks” that were viewing this documentary most likely do not identify with the LBGTQ community and were criticizing the attempts made by Livingston to bring to life the issues with drag & ball culture. Had society not had been so cruel, and rather accepting, this wouldn’t have to be a “secret” to the world. Instead, the people in this documentary are allowing the camera to be their platform in which they display their struggles to the outside world. I see homophobia as a reason why some members in the LBGTQ community feel outcasted or unwanted in the

bell hooks Plantation Paratricay can be describes as a black feminist narrative that interrogates the ideas of colonialism, gender, race, class and the effects of socialized behaviors on the black community. The article continuously problematizes the black women's experience in relation to the black man, herself and white society. Though her views can be interpreted as a deconstruction of the black family structure and the black man, she has continuously brought the focus of her concepts back to the black women and her experience. Which in turn, takes her article from being viewed as just a black feminist piece to a womenist piece because its roots are constantly being drawn back to the sexual and general oppression of the black women.

She argues that black female spectators neither wish to identify with a white woman subject objectified by the “male gaze” nor identify with a black male perpetrator of this “male gaze”. hooks asserts that black men, unconcerned with gender, were able to “repudiate the reproduction of racism in cinema…even as they could feel as though they were rebelling against white supremacy by daring to look”, specifically at white women (118). By being allowed to look at white women, black male spectators were able to ignore inherent racism in cinema in order to participate in a form of the “male gaze”, hooks states. Because black female spectators were unwilling or unable to ignore both the racism and sexism of this “gaze”, hooks states that “black female spectators construct a theory of looking relations where cinematic visual delight is the pleasure of interrogation” (126). While black female viewers may not take pleasure in the film narrative, hooks argues that through the “oppositional gaze” they are able to take pleasure in resisting this narrative

Through this book, the most important point she puts emphasis on is the acknowledgment of the complex interlocking of classism, racism and sexism. Bell Hooks is not a poor working-class any more,

bell hooks, renowned black feminist and cultural critic criticizes the lack of racial awareness in her essay, Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination (1992). ‘bell hooks’ is written in lower case to convey that the substance of her work reigns more important than the writer. From a marginalized perspective, hooks argues that sites of dominance, not otherness is problematic and critiques the lack of attention that white scholars pay to the representation of whiteness in the black imagination. Critical feminist scholars Peggy McIntosh and Ruth Frankenberg identify their own whiteness as a dominant discourse, but share a critical departure from hooks with the notion of whiteness as terror. hooks aim is not to reverse racism, but discuss her position to authentically inform readers about how she experiences racism. Furthermore, systems of oppression are manufactured by human thought and thus the site of the Other is always produced as a site of difference. Gender, race, sex, class, disability, and geography are situated differently in social structure, but dominant groups assume they share the same reality though they cannot experience it. In consequence, the Other cannot hold a singularized identity of their own and the binary structure succeeds in containing racialized bodies in place. What happens to those bodies when they cross boundaries of the binary? hooks recounts being routinely disciplined back into place when crossing the border; however, dominant white

Hooks did not fit in with her peers at either undergraduate university she attended. At the all girls school near her home the girls were all wealthier than she was and they lacked her educational ambition. Hooks “lived in the world of books ” while her classmates had “giggles and their obsession to marry” (26, 25). Their separate spheres kept them socially divided, but it didn’t stop the popular girls from going into hooks’ room and destroying and making a mess of all her things. They saw it as a joke, but hooks was not able to “replace broken things, perfume poured out, or talcum powder spread everywhere” (27). They crushed not only her physical items, but also her spirit. The other girls had a sense of entitlement because of class privilege. This blinded them to the feelings of others, and made hooks feel inferior. This sense of inferiority started much earlier in her life, and followed her throughout her academic career.

In her article, bell hooks (1990) argues that the home is a site of resistance for black people. She recalls being raised with the mindset that women, particularly black women, took the lead in running the house. According to hooks, the home was a place that provided warmth, comfort, food, and nurturing. It was a place that taught the young about dignity, integrity, and faith. Black

When I talked to Dr. Marian. I asked her about Bell Hooks’s Idea which is most of students loose their relationships with family and community when their starts their higher education and get far from their homes but she responded not all of them, there are many students keep their identity and she one of them. At the same time, it is hard to keep your traditional especially, when you live in different society that has the opposite tradition from what you have. However, the family plays an important role in their children’ lives, my relationship with my family helped me to keep my identity. When I should take any difficult decision and I do not know if my decision is okay for me as an Egyptian and a Coptic, I found them beside me. My parents

hooks feels that in our culture a white life has more value then a black one; and therefore audiences are more willing to accept the worthlessness of  black life.  hooks goes on to state, " There is collective cultural agreement that black death is inevitable, meaningless, not worth much.  That there is nothing to mourn" (100).  Americans as a whole " do not take black life seriously" (hooks, 100).  Through her review of Crooklyn, hooks is able to reinstate her idea: white America sees blacks as worthless.

Her story starts off explaining her childhood and her quest to understand art. Ms. Hooks was able to paint beautiful pictures at a youthful age as noted by her art teacher Mr. Harold. Her family did not think art was a genuine approach to make your living and never considered Bell's talent important. Even though Hooks’ parents never supported her talent for art her art teacher continued to encourage her. During that time school just became desegregated, so even though Mr. Harold ( who is white) seemed as if he was ok with being around colored people, Hooks did not feel as if she can fully believe everything he has to say since she was taught that white people were not able to understand black lives. Besides Mr. Harold, Hooks had some one else to talk about art with which was her sister G.. The conversation started off when she asked “what she thinks about art, and more importantly what she thinks most black folks are thinking about art.” And she responds with “ art is just too far away from our lives, that art is something in order to enjoy and know it, it takes work.” This shows that black people do not believe that working to enjoy

Hooks asserts how stereotypes about African-American women are plagued within the feminist system, as many women of color endure a form of