Contributors: Ian Barnard, Sophia Greco, Montéz Jennings, Aneil Rallin, Nora K. Rivera

Editors’ note: this Introduction is part of a collaborative piece on bell hooks’ influence on these writers’ identities and teaching pedagogy. There will be forthcoming individual pieces published throughout July 2023.

Introduction

Nora K. Rivera | Chapman University

Articulating bell hooks’ impact on composition studies is not easy. Her recent passing in 2021 feels like part of a list of endless misfortunes enveloping our times: the 2020 pandemic devastation and its continuous havoc, the political unrest triggered by racial inequities, gun violence, and the increase in mental health-related issues on college campuses and beyond. In a new normal that forces us to teach, learn, think, and write in desperate times, the legacy of bell hooks is a beacon of hope, guiding us to trace the connections between teaching, activism, and critical thinking. But what is the value of teaching/learning critical thinking through the lens of activism? What do we mean by critical thinking in the context of the composition classroom? And how does bell hooks help us to address and complicate these questions? What follows are our critical reflections on these questions through personal narratives, returning to ruminations we presented in commemoration of bell hooks at the 2023 CCCC Annual Convention “Doing Hope in Desperate Times.”

In her reflection, Montéz examines Black feminism and body autonomy and reminds us that “feminists are made.” She discusses her personal journey of discovering feminism, grappling with the complexities of Black womanhood, oppression, liberation, and feminist expression. Montéz reflects on bell hooks’ comments about Beyoncé, particularly labeling her a terrorist and criticizing her feminist image. She puts forward the need to critique while recognizing the challenges and complexities Beyoncé faces as a public figure and as a Black woman. Montéz embraces continuous growth and advocacy for Black women, appreciating bell hooks’ critique of Beyoncé as impactful in her path to think critically when engaging with both popular culture and critical theory.

Ian takes up Montéz’s reflection on her own critical thinking by inviting us to examine the “affordances of bell hooks’ work” and to “look for complications” in our teaching praxes. Ian highlights how hooks’ writings on diverse topics like Madonna, her critique of films such as The Attendant and Paris is Burning, and her pedagogy all have been influential in Ian’s classes. hooks’ work provokes rich class conversations that nurture “thinking that resists easy answers,” especially on the trope of the “angry Black woman,” leading to discussions on tone policing, racial stereotypes, and the value of emotion in academia. Ian emphasizes hooks’ role in questioning dominant discourses and cultivating critical thinking skills among students, skills particularly valuable in their teaching of a “First Year Foundations” course focused on developing critical thinking habits.

Inspired by bell hooks’ “radical openness,” Sophia interrogates the meaning of teaching and writing, proposing sharing “tender spaces” to transgress and resist. Instigated by bell hooks, she shares her personal journey of grappling with the contradictions of being a student/teacher within oppressive educational systems. She reflects on her undergraduate experience listening to lectures from professors who perpetuated power dynamics and control. She recounts her experience as a student activist, a participant in collective grief during the pandemic, and a witness to the transformative power of writing groups and compassionate educators. Sophia explores her motivation in navigating critical pedagogy and liberation within oppressive structures, echoing hooks by asserting that to teach critical thinking is to teach “the practice of freedom.” 

Aneil builds on their personal connection to the work of bell hooks to show us how queer and BIPOC students and teachers many times know and experience the university as a violent space. Aneil reflects on the impact bell hooks’ work has had on their life, particularly her book Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, which gave them the courage to challenge oppressive systems by blurring the lines between being a teacher, a scholar, and an activist. They remind us that academic writing is performed in many different ways, emphasizing the importance of personal reflection on lived experiences. Aneil’s piece hints at understanding critical thinking as engaging in vulnerable reflection and writing from a place of resistance. 

Each reflection shows us that the legacy of bell hooks is not a static set of books or ideas. Her legacy is alive in all of us who continue to see personal connections to her work, to teach critical thinking in our composition classrooms, and to practice critical reflection and activism to transgress in order to survive academia.