bell hooks' Talk

Earlier today I found out that bell hooks was speaking, which made me happy. I managed to meet her in the women's center in the student union before her talk(an anti-climatic encounter), then I went on my merry way to the talk, entitled Converstaions with bell hooks. She mostly read writings from her recent, yet-to-be-published work, and there was a long Q&A.

She addressed all the questions she is known for during the talk, using the obligatory new-left jargon about the patriarchal-imperialist-white-supremecist-capitalist-system (unnecessary mouthful, yeah? Well it roles off the tongues of the old-timers!) Some specific points she made that I liked were how Rosa Parks, who certainly wasn't the first black woman to stand up for herself in her time and place, was made into the ideal civil-rights fighter because she was quiet, well-mannered, and generally embodied all of the characteristics of patriarchal society's ideal woman. Plus, fiercer resisters who preceded Parks had much darker complexions. She also brought up the idea of personal agency: of rejecting the role of victim and rejecting the blame game by simply taking matters into your own hands, affirming yourself as active subject and not reproducing your subservient role in society. She of course recognized that social problems are also highly systemic, but the system can only be combatted by active, revolutionary subjects.

Q&A was interesting as well. hooks' personality really came out: she is straightforward and frank. I like it. For example, a white woman made a very general statement that anyone who isn't a Nazi would agree with, and hooks was simply like "Yeah, I think that is overly obvious." She goes straight to the point in order to go deeper. Another interesting question came from an obvious anarcho-primitivist. Her question was about technology and how it might be the root problem. hooks basically just gave a rant about how poor blacks often don't have access to most technologies and therefore it has little affect on many people, but she also mentioned how TV is hurtful to her as a black woman (what is on TV, not the technology itself, I think). She mentioned how we are becoming too dependent on certain technologies as well, which was cool.

The major downside of the talk was how she constantly extolled Buddhism and the Divine Spirit. That creeped me out. But hey, overall it was a great evening.