Critical Perspectives on bell hooks

“Critical Perspectives on bell hooks is a powerful tribute to a living pedagogy that courageously unearths the destructive ideologies of oppression and human suffering, in an effort to fully embody the vitality of our human possibilities. These critically raw and heartfelt essays not only illuminate the genius of bell hooks, but also paint a vivid portrait of the ways in which our lives must serve as the entrance to political consciousness and the key to decolonizing our world.”

—Antonia Darder, Professor of Educational Policy Studies
and Latino/a Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Davidson and Yancy have pulled together an impressive array of scholars from around the globe who declare—in vivid and compelling fashion—the importance of bell hooks’s work. Her views on critical pedagogy and praxis, the dynamics of race and gender, and the need for holistic healing spiritually and culturally make hooks an intellectual phenomenon. Critical Perspectives on bell hooks is a must-read.”

—Carol E. Henderson, Associate Director and Professor of Black American
Studies and Associate Professor of English, University of Delaware

Although bell hooks has long challenged the dominant paradigms of race, class, and gender, there has never been a comprehensive book critically reflecting upon this seminal scholar’s body of work. Her written works aim to transgress and disrupt those codes that exclude others as intellectually mediocre, and hooks’s challenge to various hegemonic practices has heavily influenced scholars in numerous areas of inquiry. This important resource thematically examines hooks’s works across various disciplinary divides, including her critique on educational theory and practice, theorization of racial construction, dynamics of gender, and spirituality and love as correctives in postmodern life. Ultimately, this book offers a fresh perspective for scholars and students wanting to engage in the prominent work of bell hooks, and makes available to its readers the full significance of her work. Compelling and unprecedented, Critical Perspectives on bell hooks is a must-read for scholars, professors, and students interested in issues of race, class, and gender.

Maria del Guadalupe Davidson is Assistant Professor of African and African-American Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

George Yancy teaches in the Philosophy Department at Duquesne University.