bell hooks after work

Nov 28, 2022 - 3 min read

Current Reading: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom

Yesterday, after a long day serving tables at a local restaurant, I walked to the near public library and took out my yellow book-- hook's Teaching to Transgress. Rereading chapter 5, Theory as Liberatory Practice, felt different this time. One would assume that reading theory while being physically and emotionally exhausted from work would not be as effective as seating in the academic ivory tower that most of my close circles sit on while reading hooks. I myself would assume that and defend this position, except this chapter did its own justice. This chapter hit me different because it was all about the gap between theory and practice and how such gap serves an instrumental purpose to oppressive practices of academia.

Reflecting on the 5+ years of immersing myself in white philosophy, bell hooks observations are not only clear but also very relatable to my experiences.

While talking about theory written by marginalized voices, hooks writes:

"Though such work is often appropriated by the very individuals setting restrictive critical standards, it is this work that they most often claim is not really theory. Cleary one of the uses there individuals make of theory is instrumental."

She then introduces, yet the most revealing truth of institutionalized education in the U.S. That is that the dichotomy of theory and praxis serves a very important purpose for the fostering of hierarchy structures in the classroom. Hooks writes:

"It is evident that the one of the many uses of theory in academic locations is in the production of an intellectual class hierarchy where the only work deemed truly theoretical is work highly abstract, jargonistic, difficult to read and containing obscure references."

She writes line after line with very charged but grounded observations on how it is not a coincidence that marginalized people always struggle with this dichotomy.

Just like she does during the first pages of this chapter, I ought to reflect on my own initiations of theory (aka. philosophy). Hooks writes about her memories as a kid and the painful and discouraging experiences of the first times she ever tried to do theory at home. She reflects on how her family did not feel like home and how theory became her safe space to learn about the world. She writes:

"Living in childhood without a sense of home, I found a place of sanctuary in the "theorizing, in making sense of out of what was happening. I a place where I could imagine possible futures, a place where life could be lived differently. [...] I learned from this experience that theory could be a healing place."

It is almost impossible not to let my mind wonder about the first time I read and learn about the word praxis and how it seemed to be the opposite of what I was supposed to do as a philosopher. Dr. Amato, my mentor and most supporting professor in university, always made sure to introduce this struggle between vita contemplativa and vita activa. Such two concepts meaning "contemplative life" and "active life". Although he never claimed the two as opposite ways of thinking, there was always a need to distinguish between the two and learn which one was taking place. Much more importantly, the contemplative life always ended up being favored. It was because of this that I bought into the idea that reflecting over my life was more conducive to the production of philosophical knowledge.

To go back to the memory of the first time I ever read the word praxis, I am moved to give much credit to philosophers who reject such dichotomy. It was on a cold evening when Dr. Amato invited me to attend his last lecture for his Radical Philosophy class where the assigned reading was Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I had no money to buy the book, as I always struggled to rent or buy books on campus due to the restrictions put on undocumented students like me. I borrowed a former friend's book for a quick moment and took all the pictures possible from the first chapter. I could not believe such an amazing book existed and began my journey into critical theory. Although it was truly a pleasure to learn and practice Western philosophy the first few years of my initiation, it was only until this day that I finally found what hooks calls a healing space within theory.