The author and queer theorist bell hooks will host a series of talks at The New School starting in November. She has written extensively on gender and sexuality and many classes at Lang regularly discuss her published work and activism, which helped create a more inclusive feminism. hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins, took her pseudonym from her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks, and prefers that her name remains completely lowercase to distinguish herself from her great-grandmother.
In 1992, Publishers Weekly named hooks’ book “Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism,” one of the twenty most influential women’s books in the last 20 years. Utne Reader called hooks one of the “100 visionaries who could change your life.”
Hooks, has taught at Yale, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco State University. hooks holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Stanford University, a master’s in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has a doctorate in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
On November 5, hooks, along with Lang Dean Stephanie Browner, will discuss race, in Wollman Hall at Lang from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Although seating is first come first serve, the discussion is free once you rsvp to elcdean@newschool.edu.
Later that day, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m, hooks, and “The Vagina Monologues” author, Eve Ensler, will host another discussion entitled “Beyond the Body,” regarding gender, lived bodies, spirituality, and feminism in Tishman Auditorium. This event is also free and open to the public on a first come, first served basis.
On November 8, hooks will lead an undergraduate master class focused on feminism theory and practice in Hirshon Suite 55 west 13th street from 12:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. This class is open to all New School undergraduate students. There are only 25 seats for the class and interested students must rsvp through a Google form to participate.
bell hooks’ residency at The New School will close with a conversation on race, politics and black womanhood entitled “Black Female Voices: Who is listening?” Melissa Harris-Perry, political science professor at Tulane University, will join hooks from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Tishman Auditorium to discuss these topics. Harris-Perry is the founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project, and host the “Melissa Harris-Perry” show on MSNBC. This event is free to the public and seating is available on a first come, first served basis.
Shea Carmen Swan is a junior at Lang, majoring in Journalism + Design, minoring in Gender Studies. With 4 semesters of Free Press under her belt, she enjoys writing all things LGBTQIA and currently writes for Posture Magazine, a queer arts publication. Kyriacrchy.wordpress.com & Soilscript.wordpress.com host most of her literary work.
Leave a Reply