Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations

The first bell hooks I've delved into (although she's been on my wishlist for a long time), the introduction convinced me that I'd be reading a lot more. Her description of talking about cultural theory with children and admission that at Yale she felt "limited by conventional pedagogy, by the emphasis on specialization and periodization" made me feel like I'd found someone else to validate my take on the world. Who couldn't love the statement "Merging critical thinking in everyday life with knowledge learned in books and through study has been the union of theory and practice that has informed my intellectual work."

Required reading for anyone who thinks that feminism is monolithic and univocal. In this collection of essays/interviews, bell hooks takes aim at Madonna, Spike Lee, Camille Paglia, Katie Roiphe, and antisex feminists like Catharine MacKinnon, just to name a few.

Accessible, encouraging and joyful.

Not my favorite bell hooks.

From Publishers Weekly
Turning from teaching to topical subjects like gangsta rap, censorship, date rape and Hollywood cinema, these 21 essays will enhance City College professor and political activist hooks's (Black Looks) reputation as an astute, vigorous and freewheeling critic on matters of race, class and gender. The underlying focus in many of these short, occasional pieces (many are reprinted from magazines like Spin and Art in America) is on how some groups, particularly women of color, are marginalized both in daily life and in the cultural wars over media representations and the academic curriculum. Memorable essays touch on questions of censorship inside and outside the academy, the dearth of feminist perspectives on Malcolm show more X, the impact of commodity culture on political debate and the shortcomings of mainstream gender theorists Camille Paglia, Naomi Wolf and Kate Roiphe. Though formulaic at times, hooks's critical style is refreshingly brash and accessible and often inflected by personal experience. Readers may contest her politics, yet few will be unmoved by the spirit that animates these essays: a desire to rethink cultural institutions that sustain racism, sexism and other systems of political oppression. show less