THEORIST-PHILOSOPHER BELL HOOKS RETURNS TO UVU FOR APRIL 1 LECTURE

The Utah Valley University Honors Program, in conjunction with the UVU College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the University of Utah, will welcome award-winning cultural theorist, philosopher and social activist bell hooks for a week-long residency March 28- April 1, 2011. Hailed as one of the “100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life” by Utne Reader, her writings cover a broad range of topics incorporating issues on feminism, race, class, education, mass media, and engaged pedagogy.
bell hooks will present a lecture on April 1 at noon in UVU’s Ragan Theater of the Sorensen Student Center. The address is general admission seating and open to the public. There will be a question-and-answer session following her remarks.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have her,” said Shannon Mussett, associate professor of philosophy and gender studies coordinator at UVU. “Engaged learning is part of the spirit of her theory, so she really ties into UVU’s community and philosophy. She’s going to bring in a voice that we don’t often get where we are, and it’s a voice that speaks to issues that matter to every person.”
Born in Hopkinsville, Ky., in 1952, hooks received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 1973, a master’s degree in from the University of Wisconsin in 1976, and a Ph.D. from the University of California-Santa Cruz in 1983. She has held positions as professor of African and African-American studies and English at Yale University, associate professor of women’s studies and American literature at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and as distinguished lecturer of English literature at the City College of New York. She has published more than 30 books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films, and participated in various public lectures. In 1992, her book Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism was named one of the 20 most influential women’s books in the last 20 years by Publishers Weekly. She currently teaches at Berea College in Kentucky.
“bell hooks deliberately writes so that it’s accessible to everybody,” Mussett said. “She intentionally speaks to everyone. Her books are clearly written so that anyone can pick them up and get something out of them. She will speak to many different kinds of students and the paths they take. The event is open for every person to attend, whoever wants to come. It’s the whole spirit of her theory. It’s not in any way to be closed off from anyone.”

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