Writing Beyond Race

by bell hooks

What are the conditions needed for our nation to bridge cultural and racial divides? By "writing beyond race," noted cultural critic bell hooks models the constructive ways scholars, activists, and readers can challenge and change systems of domination. In the spirit of previous classics like Outlaw Culture and Reel to Real , this new collection of compelling essays interrogates contemporary cultural notions of race, gender, and class. From the films Precious and Crash to recent biographies of Malcolm X and Henrietta Lacks, hooks offers provocative insights into the way race is being talked about in this "post-racial" era.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Race, Social Justice, Politics, Writing, Theory

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

bell hooks (deliberately in lower-case; born Gloria Jean Watkins) was an African-American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in various public lectures. Primarily through a postmodern female perspective, she addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, mass media and feminism.

Reviews

[Joshunda Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first time I read a book and my name was quoted in it. So I want to say the book was amazing because I nearly fell out when I saw that bell hooks had read a piece I wrote with my friend and fellow writer, Diana Barnes-Brown. But beyond that, the book was wonderful, as many of her books are. I love the simplicity of her sentences. She deconstructs white supremacist capitalist thought, she talks about the dearth of self-help and self-love tomes for black people generally but black women specifically. She changed my mind about Crash with her excellent analysis of the pornography of violence in the film. She writes about feeling safe at home from the reach and sadness that accompanies racism.
It was inspiring and well-done.

[Fleur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I am in love with hooks, who is so badassly smart! I love how she shows the interconnectedness of race, gender and class. And how she provides a space where people of any color can communicate and work together. This book has moved me and I think I will take it with me for the rest of my life. I cannot wait to read more books by the author.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several of bell hooks' books and never cease to be stretched and challenged by her use of language and her radical feminist anti-racist perspective. This book is no exception. While the book's primary audience seems to be African Americans, I continually found myself asking what might this mean for me as a white middle class male. She introduces the admittedly awkward phrase "imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy" to capture the intersection of various domination systems that characterize contemporary American life. In this collection of essays she critiques books and movies ("Crash", "Precious", "The Help", "The Secret Life of Henrietta Lacks") offering her unique perspective as an African American female. She writes more personal essays about her parents' marriage and living as a black woman in a predominantly white community. She reflects on the contemporary significance of African American leaders such as Dubois, King and Malcolm X. She highlights the contributions of black women writers such as Audre Lord, Toni Morrison and Sonia Sanchez. Her overall focus encourages "psychic healing" and a recapturing of solidarity among people of color to thus become empowered to live with purpose and dignity in a dehumanizing social, cultural and political environment. I found this book to be compelling, challenging, maddening and inspirational - sometimes all at the same time. This is a must read for anyone concerned about addressing the reality of racist, sexist oppression in our time. Actually when I think about it, everyone should read it, though many would find her thoughts so radical they might be un-digestible. She speaks truth, but as Flannery O'Connor is reputed to have said "the truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." That's the kind of truth this book brings forth.

[Josh Issa · Rating 5 out of 5]

To engage the practice of love is to oppose domination in all its forms. To love will necessarily take us beyond race, beyond all categories that aim to limit and confine the human spirit. Domination will never end as long as we are all taught to devalue love.

When I first read bell in undergrad, I was confronted by her insistence that we must cultivate love, rather than hierarchies of power, to ensure human flourishing. That our white supremacist, capitalist, sexist, heteronormative society teaches us that safety is found in hierarchies, but the reality is that they do little but harm. So much of what she says is an antidote to the soul raised in an era of YouTubers re-packaging regressive beliefs through street “interviews” and podcast.

Love as a way of life makes it possible for us all to live humanely within a culture of domination as we work for change. The radical nature of love is that it is profoundly democratic. Irrespective of our status and station in life we can choose love; we can choose to leave dominator thinking behind.

Much of this book is bell demonstrating how to apply her epistemology of standpoint theory, that those at the edge of our socio-economic centre (white, male, straight, rich) AND are critically engaged are able to truly generate knowledge. She points out how simply having minority voices present isn’t enough, they need to actually be critical of the white supremacist system we live in or face reinforcing it. And much of this book embodies bell’s strict adherence to cultivate love (both of the self and within communities) as a source of strength to challenge the constructed centre of our society. Her homages to Malcolm X and MLK with a meditation on her changing relationship with her now aging parents in-between was truly touching. On the self-love side, I found most interesting her insistence on creating spaces for herself of self-love by refusing to engage in white supremacist culture through consumption of media by the rejection of television to be very provoking.

Progressive religious beliefs which extol the virtues of compassion, a love ethic, and sharing of resources are needed if we are to rekindle a spirit of resistancewhere domination is always challenged and opposed. The radical religious left needs to come together and create a public voice for itself.

I also always appreciate how bell has a theological voice to her feminist philosophy that is often neglected in this literature. She points out how so much of radical, liberating politics in the Civil Rights era came from serious theological reflection in community which has been lost today by conservative fundamentalists cultivating regressive politics and progressives leaving religious communities. So I appreciate her shouting out people like me who refuse to leave the community and who do their best to advocate for a radical politics that demands that our ethic should be one of love.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really two books in one, with essays about thinking beyond race, fighting white supremacy through critical awareness, and bell hooks' experience disseminating these ideas to a broad audience wrapped around a somewhat disconcerting core of harsh diatribe against a few books and films that have bothered hooks recently (the Help, the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) and not-so-recently (e.g. Crash). This essay format was both repetitive and schizophrenic, but still a worthwhile read to check back in on the mind of a foremost thinker on dominant ideologies.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from a couple chapters, specifically one dedicated to The Help and one a dialogue about Precious, hooks effectively provides insight into how patriarchal imperialistic capitalistic white supremacy manifests in contemporary American society without feeling tautological. While I agree with hooks’s critiques of The Help insofar that the novel and film contain deeply problematic elements, hooks makes claims that seem unprovable- that is, is it really the case the film/book only exist to be counter-feminist and perpetuate white supremacy? The claim seems a bit oversimplified here, and the dialogue about Precious, which does perspire some fascinating ideas about plantation culture, also seems to treat the film’s star as an “other” in way that feels uncomfortable to hear from an author who has dedicated chapters in this book to talking about love and praxis for combating oppression. This book remains fantastic overall, but I imagine these critiques could lead to some readers challenging this book more than some of hooks’s other texts.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

bell hooks at her finest- my favorite reminder from this book is that patriarchy starts in the home!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!! Especially her analysis of The Help, Precious, and Crash. As well as her writing about white supremacist thought and black self-determination.

[Maria Bicchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminante

[Harmony]

an eye-opening read on how our society is built upon white supremacist thought and some of the ways in which we can begin to decolonise our minds - i really liked what hooks wrote about accountability as a concept that "opens a field of possibility wherein we are all compelled to move beyond blame to see where our responsibility lies". that said, i wasn't sure how all these essays are thematically linked, aside from the discussion of race, class and gender: some are critiques on books and movies, others about martin luther king and malcolm x, others are about the concept of love and community, etc. i guess it was just a little difficult to follow whatever the main thread of thought was. still, i will definitely be looking into more of bell hooks' writing in the future.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While hooks is an excellent writer and I’ve enjoyed a few of her other books immensely (or found them to be absolutely essential reading) this one just doesn’t land in the same way. It was hard to get a grasp on her project, each chapter felt a little disjointed and repetitive, and she makes a number of references that aren’t backed up with explanation or specifics.

However, asking her reader to see interlocking systems for what they are, to take them seriously, to even further articulate black existence and self-realization in imperialistcapitalistwhitesupremacistpatriarchy is badass. So... it was okay.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first book by bell hooks. I wish it had not been. It felt like a way to publish an oddly diverse set of essays, some of which I found rich & moving, others - the book & film reviews mostly - I found hard to get through. I frankly had only been interested in one of the book/movies, the movie "Crash", so to read critiques that essentially validated why I had not read the others was boring. bell hooks is NOT boring. She is an articulate, passionate, insightful author, feminist & activist and I am eventually going to try another of her works.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the essays on social commentary very moving and enlightening. There were a few chapters on film criticism that were deeply thoughtful but not as interesting to me.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and so inspiring!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If half stars were an option, I would give this 3 and half but I'll allow an extra half star for intent and execution. hooks (she writes it in lower case so why not) infuses decades of experience into a polemic that inspires and shames and ventures to tell us How We Can Fix Things. While she lost me at the assertion that spirituality is essential for social progress (hard for me to swallow as an atheist), her secular ruminations on community-consciousness-based attitudes about race and gender and sexuality gave me food for thought that I'll continue to digest for days, maybe even months.

Her analyses and dialogues about the films Crash and Precious were compelling and fun reads. I say fun since there was nothing she said that I hadn't heard and agreed with before, but watching her dismantle their narratives and characters so utterly (yet dispassionately), showing how they all fail to live up to the credit recklessly given them by those who call such films "progressive" or "important," was a delight. And I admit that comes from a smug place.

I was enthralled by hooks' critique of both the book and film versions of The Help, from which she drew more closely from personal experience (her mother was a domestic worker). Be prepared for an extended deconstruction of that story that carries over into other chapters, sometimes seeming inadvertently so, like hooks wants to move on but has to get out One Last Thing about this "poorly written" novel that deeply offended her ways that precluded a wholly dispassionate review.

I could have done without the last couple of chapters, which became circular in their repetition of points made so well earlier, but at only 200 pages you're not in for a long read - that is unless, like me, you re-read passages regularly to better appreciate hooks' point of view that, whether you agree with it or not, is refreshingly unambiguous and genuine. Writing Beyond Race is not mere rhetoric, it asks you to challenge your preconceptions about people of color and white men and women while assuring you that challenge and criticism is not intended to harm or admonish but instead are important elements of discourse that, embraced by all, will lead us to a better understanding of The Other, whoever, from your POV, that might be.

[Samaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent a long time trying to construct a review that is worthy of this book. I don't know if that is possible because this is honestly one of the best books I've ever read. It's a beautiful collection of essays - some are think pieces, others are book/movie reviews - and an awesome selection of insights that strengthen my commitment to anti-oppressive feminist praxis.

The opening lines of a few chapters were so deep that I paused and reflected on them for a few minutes before continuing on.

bell hooks is the type of activist, educator, and author that I want to be.

Her critiques are scathing at times (but always with reason) but also gentle and empathetic. Her reviews have made me reconsider the way that I have consumed media and have given names to the "not quite right" feelings that I had watching Precious, and completely deconstructed why Crash is actually a shit show of a movie.

Having read All About Love I was aware of hooks' commitment and advocacy for a "love ethic" but I wasn't sure how to implement it. In fact, I kind of dismissed it as being overly sentimental. However, from hooks' reflections and suggestions in this book, I get it.

bell hooks' words have transformed my thinking before, and she continues to inspire me in every piece of hers that I read. She challenges us to see beyond binaries and to live/practice the theories that we preach. She highlights the importance/necessity of love and empathy in the pursuit of social justice - something which I think often gets undervalued - while still being fierce and fearless in confronting oppressions.

You all should read this book!

[Cheri Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a Women's Study course. As a black female writer with some experience in the publishing business, her analysis and discussion of the media including the appropriation of black female narratives and in particular, "The Help" is spot on. This discussion becomes even more important in light of Ta-Nehesi Coates revealing essay about the systematic exclusion of black access to the achievement of financial wealth. I like that she identifies "the system" of dominating patriarchy as the real divisive factor between people. hooks' writing is accessible, and her ideas clearly presented which is also a plus.

[Cyndi Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the essays in the book. I liked how each illustrated hooks' use of praise by weaving the theoretical work together with pop culture, personal and familial aspects, and professional connections. I also really enjoyed the movie critiques. I can now see why The Help, Precious, and Crash cannot be the racial challenges they were touted to be.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for my Engendering Rhetorical Power class. Rating is for me not really being able to pin down what the author's attitude towards certain things is. She's got some weird hierarchy of valuing films/literature in a way that privileges art, and yet says that she appreciates a variety of works. Although she argues against binary thinking, it seems like she still engages in it.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

How onanistic. There really isn't much point for this book to exist. The people most likely to be reading hooks's works are typically the erudite masses who have little need for her polemical diatribes on oppression.

[Sivananthi T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading. Re-visiting perspectives on the perpetuation of the white/ capitalist/ patriarchy, and much relevant to issues of rising religious fundamentalism, interrogating media, committing to excellence, re-examining the role of love, critique and forgiveness.

[Mills College Library]

305.80097 H784 2013

[Jay-René Kouassiaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan. I love her writing period.

[Ayesha Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incisive critical analysis of so many aspects of our current culture. Empowering and masterfully written. A book I will return to again and again.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love bell hooks <3

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sort of book that everyone needs to read. It inspires.