Been wanting to read more material from Bell Hooks and got this on loan from the library. It is an outstanding view on education and intersectionality in the classroom. She makes it very clear how the complexities of power, class, gender, race and even language generate a dynamic environment that should not be ignored and assumed to be neutral in the classroom. She tells her own experiences as a student and a teacher and links them to the needs of nurturing young souls.
She also talks about colonisation and its legacy and the fact that the very language we use is a tool of oppression, that needs to be owned and wielded by the powerless to reclaim their very humanity. She sums it up and elaborates from this phrase from a poem by Adrienne Rich: “This is the oppressor’s language yet I need it to talk to you.”
Powerful thoughts that challenge the status quo and although it is clearly intended for educators, as a parent and just a human being striving to be better and uplift those around me, it is essential reading.