Spring 2008 – Portland State University – bell hooks – WS 308U / ENG 308U

COURSE DESCRIPTION

bell hooks is a feminist, writer and cultural critic. This course will explore her work, her philosophies and her writing. We will begin with looking at her definition of feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” and use her lens as a tool for becoming cultural critics of our own lives and the world around us. Cultural criticism aims to deconstruct the myths of “ordinary culture” by closely examining its production. In other words, nothing is “just the way it is” for no reason and / or without the support of the culture. Hooks coined the phrase “white supremacist capitlist patriarchy” to talk about the system of oppression in American culture and society. The text chosen for this course are her writing specific to family, love and community, these issues will be our primary focus this term.