Philosophical Heritage of bell hooks’ Radical Feminism and Cultural Criticism

Abstract

In Feminist theory: from margin to center, bell hooks puts into question the works by reformist feminists who happens to be mostly white, privileged women. She insists that these reformists do not address the plight of other oppressed women who were subjugated not only by their sex alone but by other factors such as race and class. Consequently, she proposes a cultural criticism that investigates the systems of domination in place through a disruption and deconstruction of cultural productions. This paper aims to critically evaluate hooks’ radical feminism and cultural criticism, and show its philosophical heritage through an engagement with the key ideas of critical theory and postmodernism.
 References
 Ackerly, Brooke A. Political theory and feminist social criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
 Adorno, Theodor W., and Anson G. Rabinbach. “Culture industry reconsidered.” New German Critique 6 (1975): 12-19.
 Ahmed, Sara. Differences that matter: Feminist theory and postmodernism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
 Anderson, Pamela Sue. “Feminism and philosophy.” In Gamble, Sarah, ed. The Routledge companion to feminism and postfeminism. London: Routledge, 2006, 117-124.
 Berger, Arthur Asa. Cultural criticism: a primer of key concepts. California: Sage Publications, 1995.
 Brezina, Corona. Sojourner Truth’s “ain't I a woman?” speech: A primary source investigation. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005.
 Bronner, Stephen Eric, and Douglas Kellner, eds. Critical theory and society: A reader. New York: Psychology Press, 1989.
 Brooks, Ann. Postfeminisms: feminism, cultural theory and cultural forms. London: Routledge, 1997.
 Cavallaro, Dani. Critical and cultural theory. London: The Athlone Press, 2001.
 Cott, Nancy F. The grounding of modern feminism. Boston, Mass.: Yale University Press, 1987.
 del Guadalupe Davidson, Maria, and George Yancy, eds. Critical perspectives on bell hooks. London: Routledge, 2009.
 Devereux, Cecily. “New woman, new world: maternal feminism and the new imperialism in the white settler colonies.” In Women's studies international forum, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 175-184. Pergamon, 1999.
 Dicker, Rory, and Alison Piepmeier, eds. Catching a wave: Reclaiming feminism for the 21st century. Northeastern University Press, 2016.
 Foucault, Michel. The history of sexuality: An introduction. Vintage, 1990.
 Friedan, Betty. The feminine mystique. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2010.
 Gamble, Sarah, ed. The Routledge companion to feminism and postfeminism. London: Routledge, 2006.
 Genz, Stéphanie and Benjamin Brabon. Postfeminism: cultural texts and theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
 Geuss, Raymond. The idea of a critical theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
 hooks, bell. Outlaw culture: resisting representations. London: Routledge, 2006.
 __________. Salvation: Black people and love. New York: Harper Perennial, 2001.
 __________. Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston, Mass.: South and Press, 1990.
 __________. Feminist theory: from margin to center. Boston, Mass.: South End Press, 1984.
 __________. Ain't I a woman: Black women and feminism. Boston, Mass.: South End Press, 1981.
 Horkheimer, Max. Between philosophy and social science: selected early writings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
 Leitch, Vincent B., and William E. Cain, eds. The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2010.
 McLaren, Peter, and Nathalia E. Jaramillo. “Borderlines: bell hooks and the Pedagogy of Revolutionary Change.” In Critical Perspectives on bell hooks, pp. 31-47. Routledge, 2009.
 Kellner, Douglas. Baudrillard: A critical reader. Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1995.
 May, Tim, and Jason Powell. Situating social theory. London: McGraw-Hill Education, 2008.
 Nussbaum, Martha C. “Human Functioning and Social Justice: In Defense of Aristotelian Essentialism.” Political Theory 20, no. 2 (1992): 202-46.
 Rush, Fred, ed. The Cambridge companion to critical theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
 Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. "Forty Years of Women’s Studies." Ms. Magazine online. Spring Issue. http://www. msmagazine. com/womensstudies/FourtyYears.asp (2009).
 Walters, Suzanna Danuta. Material girls: Making sense of feminist cultural theory. California: University of California Press, 1995.
 Watkins, S. Craig, and Rana A. Emerson. “Feminist media criticism and feminist media practices.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 571, no. 1 (2000): 151-166.
 Wolf, Naomi. The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. New York: Random House, 1991.