Love is an everyday construction, and only in action does it acquire a feeling.

Writer, teacher, and activist Bell Hooks brings subjective dimensions to her work, dealing with social issues such as racism, feminism, politics, pedagogy, domination, and resistance.

The author died last December and left an immeasurable legacy of black literature, according to historians who spoke to reporters. Brazil de facto.

The American black feminist has written over 40 books published in 15 different languages, some of which have been translated in Brazil. The daughter of a janitor and a maid, Bell was educated in segregated schools in the United States and published her first collection of poetry. And there we cried in 1978.

:: Talking drums: anti-racism and feminism in Afro-Uruguayan candomba ::

In 2020, educator and historian Silvane Silva was invited by Elefante Publishing to write the preface to the Brazilian edition of the Hooks’ book Tudo sobre o amor: novaes perspectiva.

She explains that the author believes that love goes far beyond romantic love, attachment to someone. For her, love is an action associated with ethics and the collective.

“Bell Hooks was keen to practice what she wrote herself,” says Sylvan Silva/Personal Archive.

“It shows how important it is for society that we have love as an ethic and that we can build a concept of love that values ​​not the individualism that capitalist society is used to, but a concept of love that is constructed and valued. through life in the community.

:: Bell Hooks, writer and one of the biggest names in black feminism, dies ::

How to identify revolutionary wind chimes ideas? Unlike great academic theorists, Hooks insisted on writing instructive and accessible, so that all people interested in his literature could read his writings, and were criticized throughout his career for being “not academic enough”.

“This is something of great importance, because few scientists manage to achieve what it gives, namely the depth of conceptualization, aligned with a simple language that is accessible to everyone and which basically reduces all the practical relations of everyday life to concepts and reflections. She was worried that the theory could heal us, help us live, and could help in our daily lives,” Silva says.

Reading the works helped the historian Marilea de Almeida to declare herself as a black woman, intellectual, teacher, researcher and writer / Photo: Fernanda Almeida Abraao (Marilea’s niece, 11 years old)

Throughout her career, the author has covered topics ranging from critical theory to pedagogical and cultural practice, feminism, love, spirituality, self-esteem, and several books aimed at children. So how do you get started with bell hooks? Sylvan points to “Teaching Crime: Education as the Practice of Freedom” and books on the subject.

:: Sirma Bilge and the challenge to find oneself among the oppressions that divide us ::

“Facing the fear of speaking out and courageously standing up to authority remains a vital challenge for all women,” writes Bell Hooks in the introduction to the new issue of Raising Your Voice: Think Feminist, Think Black. And it is this book that historian and psychoanalyst Marilea de Almeida, author of Devir quilomba: anti-racism, attachment and politics in the practice of quilombol women, recommends to those who have never read bell hooks and want to understand the author’s ideas.

“I think a fundamental aspect of Bell Hooks’ work is her relationship with the word. She believes that the transformation of the world occurs not only through her, but also through the gestures of using voice and words. So I would recommend Raise Your Voice, a book that brings to the fore this process of silencing that takes place, especially with black women, and that, in a way, leads to speech and language similar to the voice of black women. , which occupies a unique place,” explains Almeida.

During the interview, she read an excerpt from the book Erguer a voz, which features personal and theoretical essays in which she critically radicalizes the maxim that “the personal is political”.

When we challenge ourselves to speak in a liberating voice, we threaten even those who may at first claim that they want to hear our words, in the act of overcoming our fear of speech being perceived as a threat to the process of learning to speak as subjects in which we participate. global struggle to end dominance. When we end our silence, when we speak with a liberating voice, our words connect us to anyone who lives in silence somewhere. Excerpt from Raise Your Voice: Think Like a Feminist, Think Like a Black Woman

Marilea says that meeting Bell Hooks was a game changer in her career, she saw herself and thought about herself. Reading the works helped the historian to declare himself as a black woman, intellectual, teacher, researcher and writer.

“It works like a call for me, you know? As if I am being called to learn how to use my voice, my intellect, my intellectual abilities and my energy serve human dignity.”

Bahian singer Lueji Luna released an album called “It’s good to be underwater” that mentions black songwriters. In this track, she refers to a book published by the Hooks in 1981 called E eu sou não uma mulher? Black women and feminism.

As the author turns 70 this year, Editora Elefante announced posthumously that she will be publishing at least six more Bell Hooks books.

Some books mentioned in the report:

– All About Love: New Perspectives (2021)

Summary: What is love? Is this question so subjective, so opaque? As for bell hooks, when we refine their meaning, we get further and further away from understanding it. In this book, the first volume of his Love Trilogy, the author tries to explain what love really is, whether it be in family, romantic and friendship relationships, or religious experience. Contrary to popular belief, which so often understands love as a sign of weakness and irrationality, Bell Hooks argues that love is more than a feeling, it is an action that can transform the nihilism, greed and obsession with power that dominate our lives. . It is through building a loving ethic that we can build a truly egalitarian society based on justice and the pursuit of collective well-being.

– Teaching Crime: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994)

Synopsis: In Learning to Crime, Bell Hooks and the Rebellious Black Intellectual write about a new type of education, education as the practice of freedom. For Hooks, teaching students to “transgress” racial, gender, and class lines in order to receive the gift of freedom is the teacher’s most important goal. Filled with passion and politics, Teaching Crime combines practical knowledge in the classroom with a deep connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is one of the rare books about teachers and students that dares to raise critical questions about Eros and anger, suffering and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself. She says that “education as the practice of freedom is a way of learning that anyone can learn.” “Teaching Transgression” tells the story of a talented teacher’s struggle to make the class work.

– Raise Your Voice: Think Like a Feminist, Think Like a Black Woman (2019)

Synopsis: As a child, the author was taught that to “answer”, “to object” means to dare to disagree, to have one’s own opinion, to speak on an equal footing with an authority figure. In this collection of personal and theoretical essays, in which he critically radicalizes the maxim that “the personal is political,” Bell Hooks reflects on the issues that characterize his intellectual work: racism and feminism, politics and pedagogy, domination and resistance. In more than twenty essays and one interview, the author shows that the transition between silence and speech is a complex gesture that heals, gives new life and new growth to the oppressed, colonized, exploited and all those who are left behind. fight shoulder to shoulder for liberation.

Editing: Douglas Matos