GRANVILLE -- The Denison University women's studies department presents a lecture by bell hooks, an American critic and writer, on "Teaching Community: Ending Domination, Creating Love" at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (March 27) in Slayter Auditorium. Sponsored by Laura C. Harris funds, the lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a brief book-signing.

bell hooks

Known as a feminist thinker, hooks urges an end to the degradation and exploitation of black women, arguing that this is an integral step in alleviating white supremacy. She claims "the moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others."

Other events scheduled for hooks's visit include a luncheon held after the lecture for select students, faculty and guests and displays of her work in the library, bookstore and women's studies department. A reading group consisting of 20 faculty members from various departments will meet again before hooks's arrival to discuss her bookTeaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.

Formerly known as Gloria Watkins, hooks decided to use a pseudonym both to honor her grandmother (whose name she took) and her mother, but also because she felt the name Gloria had become associated with an identity that was not completely hers and that using a pseudonym allowed her to reclaim her voice and identity.

Her rage toward the "white capitalist patriarchy" led hooks to begin writing her first bookAin't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminismwhen she was 19. Recent publications includeThe Female Search for Love, Salvation: Black People and Love, andWhere We Stand: Class Matters. Her writings cover a broad range of topics on gender, race, teaching and the significance of media for contemporary culture. She states the "Function of art is to do more than tell it like it is -- it's to imagine what is possible."

hooks earned a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University in 1973 and went on to earn a master of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1976 and a doctorate from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1983. Currently a scholar at the City College of New York, hooks maintains that intellectual work need not come from academia, and that being in academia is often an impediment to true intellectual thought.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575