Bell hooks by the Afro-feminist thinker will be re-released in France

Her name is still unknown to the general public, but her legacy is at the heart of today’s feminist reflections. This is the paradox of the bell hooks, pseudonym of the African American scholar and author Gloria Jean Watkins, born into a poor family in segregated Kentucky in the 1950s.

bell hooks to be reissued in France

The author, who passed away last year, leaves behind more than thirty books dedicated to subjects that were little studied at the time: feminism, love, attachment, the intersectionality of discrimination when one is a woman, black and of origin. popular. Having become an essential author in the United States, bell hooks has remained reserved in France, where only two of her works of hers, ” Am I not a woman? “ And ” From the sidelines to the center – Feminist theory », Were published by Cambourakis editions.

His proof, “About love”which had never been translated into France, is due to be published on October 7 by Divergences, more than twenty years after its American release, it has left its mark on an entire generation of feminists.

Restore the concept of self-love

” bell hooks is the first to articulate the intimate and the political, at a time when we do not question the mistreatment suffered by women in love and in the family », Explains Axelle Jah Njiké, documentary maker and specialist in afrofeminism. ” Her reflections on love echo her college career, where she is the only young black woman of blue-collar origin, in an environment she considers plagued by middle-class white men. “, Observes Nassira Hedjerassi, professor of educational sciences at the Sorbonne and specialist in hooks for bells. During her studies at Stanford, then when she accepted a job as a lecturer at Yale University, she continued to deplore the absence of blacks in the university world.

” Because she has always been politically committed to the side of the oppressed, she has found that what hinders participation in struggles is the internalization of domination. “

Nassira Hedjerassi

This ” internalized hatred for oneself », In particular by the blacks vis-à-vis, which Bell Hooks observed in the civil rights movements of the 1960s, finds him in his couple, where love is sometimes used as a pretext for violent behavior. ” It manages to show that antifeminism and sexism are genderless and that they can also exist among women of color. “Summarizes Fania Noël, PhD student in sociology and author of” And now the power. An afrofeminist political horizon “. It is in response to this hatred that bell hooks have developed the concept of” love for oneself “(” love for oneself », In French), which, according to her, should be restored. “ It is this self-love that must constitute the strength of radical and transformative struggles “, Observes Nassira Hedjerassi. ” He invites his readers to remove love from the field of emotions and put it into the field of practice.observes Fania Noël.

” Until recently, there was little interest in feminist thinking, especially from women of color “

It’s the same love for oneself Which should make it possible not to confuse love with relationships established on coercion. “VSit is giving to yourself what you would like others to bestow on you », Analyzes Axelle Jah Njiké. ” This concept has been widely adopted as a personal development tool, it is actually political and helps build communities “, Adds Fania Noël, who specifies that bell hooks was the first to write for men,” because he believed in their ability to change. “

It is her commitment to black American women that will earn her dismissal and oblivion for a time, especially from white feminists. ” Until recently, there was little interest in feminist thinking, especially from women of color », Addresses Victoire Tuaillon, journalist and author of the podcast Le Cœur sur la table. For Axelle Jah Njiké, this disinterest is mainly limited to France: ” The United States has been very far-sighted in terms of feminist theory. At the time Bell Hooks was publishing her books in France, people were still wondering what the best way to get married was. “

formal revolution

While it wasn’t the first to develop theories about love – the subject was scorned by academia at the time – bell hooks nevertheless helped revolutionize the essay genre. Often very theoretical, the rare works on feminism are very academic and not easily accessible to the general public. ” When he writes, his approach to the subject is free, embodied, sensitive, concrete ” forward Victoire Tuaillon. “You are a public intellectual, Fania Noelle abounds, produces theoretically rigorous books, but intended for the general public. ” This way of proceeding stems from his political commitment to serving black Americans, often excluded from universities.

“ He had this concern of reaching people where they were, of being accessible enough to provide intellectual material to all audiences, so that they could engage in the struggles and break free from the system that oppresses African Americans at the time. “

Nassira Hedjerassi

A consistency that will bring her back to her native Kentucky, to teach in public high schools and prisons, where the insurrection can come from.