Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery
by bell hooks
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In Sisters of the Yam, bell hooks reflect on the ways in which the emotional health of black women has been and continues to be impacted by sexism and racism. Desiring to create a context where black females could both work on their individual efforts for self-actualization while remaining connected to a larger world of collective struggle, hooks articulate the link between self-recovery and political resistance. Both an expression of the joy of self-healing and the need to be ever vigilant show more in the struggle for equality, Sisters of the Yam continues to speak to the experience of black womanhood. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery, by bell hooks and narrated by Adenrele Ojo, is a classic that always rewards revisiting.
By the time I read the first edition of this book, hooks was already among my favorite writers. Coupled with Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, she heavily influenced how I approached my teaching. A colleague brought this book to my attention and suggested that I offer it as voluntary reading on syllabi. Over several years of doing so, it was the book that generated the most discussion during office hours and was the most referenced non-mandatory reading in classroom discussion. This book doesn't just inform, it helps people to grow and heal from the many wounds our society inflicts on a daily show more basis.
I just listened to the audio version and thoroughly enjoyed it. The narration is superb and being able to just listen is a gift. Like her wonderful lectures, her writing is sometimes best absorbed by listening.
Along with all of her books, I highly recommend this volume. Of all her books, I think this is an ideal one to have in audio. It rewards multiple readings/listenings and having it on while driving or commuting, while going about the more mundane tasks we do every day, can help us to keep things in perspective while also making sure we don't lose sight of our personal wellbeing. It is from that position that we can best make societal change.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less
By the time I read the first edition of this book, hooks was already among my favorite writers. Coupled with Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, she heavily influenced how I approached my teaching. A colleague brought this book to my attention and suggested that I offer it as voluntary reading on syllabi. Over several years of doing so, it was the book that generated the most discussion during office hours and was the most referenced non-mandatory reading in classroom discussion. This book doesn't just inform, it helps people to grow and heal from the many wounds our society inflicts on a daily show more basis.
I just listened to the audio version and thoroughly enjoyed it. The narration is superb and being able to just listen is a gift. Like her wonderful lectures, her writing is sometimes best absorbed by listening.
Along with all of her books, I highly recommend this volume. Of all her books, I think this is an ideal one to have in audio. It rewards multiple readings/listenings and having it on while driving or commuting, while going about the more mundane tasks we do every day, can help us to keep things in perspective while also making sure we don't lose sight of our personal wellbeing. It is from that position that we can best make societal change.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less
Product Description
When Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery was originally released in 1994, it won critical praise and solidified bell hooks' reputation as one of the leading public intellectuals of her generation. Today, the book is considered a classic in African American and feminist circles.
In Sisters of the Yam, hooks examines how the emotional health of black women is wounded by daily assaults of racism and sexism. Exploring such central life issues as work, beauty, trauma, addiction, eroticism and estrangement from nature, hooks shares numerous strategies for self-recovery and healing. She also shows how black women can empower themselves and effectively struggle against racism, sexism and consumer capitalism.
As show more hooks' first book on psychological concerns, Sisters of the Yam paved the way for her more recent and popular writing on love, relationships and community show less
When Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery was originally released in 1994, it won critical praise and solidified bell hooks' reputation as one of the leading public intellectuals of her generation. Today, the book is considered a classic in African American and feminist circles.
In Sisters of the Yam, hooks examines how the emotional health of black women is wounded by daily assaults of racism and sexism. Exploring such central life issues as work, beauty, trauma, addiction, eroticism and estrangement from nature, hooks shares numerous strategies for self-recovery and healing. She also shows how black women can empower themselves and effectively struggle against racism, sexism and consumer capitalism.
As show more hooks' first book on psychological concerns, Sisters of the Yam paved the way for her more recent and popular writing on love, relationships and community show less
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South End Press
35 works; 1 member
Author Information
84+ Works 22,933 Members
A cultural critic, an intellectual, and a feminist writer, bell hooks best known for classic books including Ain't I a Woman, Bone Black, All About Love, Rock My Soul, Belonging, We Real Cool, Where We Stand, Teaching to Transgress, Teaching Community, Outlaw Culture, and Reel to Real, hooks is Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian show more Studies at Berea College, and resides in her home state of Kentucky. show less
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Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
- Epigraph
- "Just so's you're sure, sweetheart,
and ready to be healed,
cause wholeness is no trifling matter.
A lot of weight when you are well."
- Toni Cade Bambara, The Salt Eaters - Dedication
- Celebrating the life and work
of Toni Cade Bambara
whose visionary insight, revolutionary spirit,
and passionate commitment to struggle
guides and sustains. - First words
- When I wrote Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism twenty years ago, the chapter that most spoke to me was "Continued Devaluation of Black Womanhood."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Like our ancestors using our powers to the fullest, we share the secrets of healing and come to know sustained joy.
- Blurbers
- Adisa, Opal Palmer; Walker, Alice; Bandele, Asha; Hull, Akasha Gloria
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 155.8 — Philosophy and Psychology Psychology Differential and developmental psychology Cultural Psychology; Ethnopsychology
- LCC
- RC451.5 .N4 .H66 — Medicine Internal medicine Internal medicine Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry Psychiatry
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 348
- Popularity
- 90,371
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.18)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 18
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 4
