The Quotable Black Scholar: bell hooks on Black Academics and Cultural Borders
bell hooks (Source: RGB Street Scholars Think Tank)
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I used a quote by Snoop Doggy Dog at the NYU conference on black cinema, that really meant a lot to me. He said, “I don’t rap. I just talk. I want to be able to relax and conversate with my people.” Are we, cultural workers situated in the academy, developing a jargon about cultural production that does not allow us to “conversate and cross” these very borders that we’re talking about how cool it would be to cross? If we don’t find a way to “conversate,” all we’re ever talking about is that those of us who have certain forms of class privilege can enter the low-down and dirty spaces and take what we want to get out of those spaces, and take our asses right back home.
–from “Bomb the Root: The bell hooks Interview,” Reposted on the Root.com
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Biographical Notes: Gloria Watkins (known professionally by her pen name, “bell hooks”), holds a B.A. from Stanford University (1973), an M.A. form the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. One of the most prolific and influential feminist scholars of the last 30 years, she has written and published more than 20 books and numerous articles related to Black feminism, cultural studies, and critical analysis.
Posted by Ajuan Mance
Posted in Academia, African Americans, bell hooks, Current Events, Higher Education, race, Snoop Dogg
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Most people encountered at University of Wisconsin did not know bell hooks attended the school.