The College of Charleston will host one of the most important feminist scholars of the last several decades on Friday, August 31, 2012, at 2 p.m. at the College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre. bell hooks will present “Writing Beyond Race,” a presentation exploring what it means to live a life that combines political passions and personal commitments. The event is free and open to the public.
“This is an amazing opportunity not just for our students, but for the entire Charleston community,” says Alison Piepmeier, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the College. “Nearly every women’s and gender studies program in the nation teaches work by bell hooks, and I think I’ve quoted her in almost everything I’ve had published. Everyone who attends her talk will walk away with a question she has raised that is meaningful to them.”
About “Writing Beyond Race,” bell hooks says, “One powerful intervention of the feminist movement was the call to recognize identity politics–to look at the ways, race, class, gender, sexuality, religion all influence our standpoints. The challenge is how to balance these standpoints with the recognition of a more transcendent sense of self and identity.”
bell hooks has written more than thirty books that have examined gender, race, class, sexual identity, and other identity categories, examining the ways they intersect and the ways in which our society’s forms of oppression keep people from achieving their full humanity. The Atlantic Monthly identified her as one of our nation’s leading public intellectuals, and Utne Reader put her on the list of “100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life.”
This event is sponsored by the College of Charleston Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Sophia Institute. Cosponsors are the College of Charleston African American Studies Program, the Avery Institute, the First Year Experience, and the Office of the Academic Experience.
For more information, contact Alison Piepmeier at 843.953.2280.
