Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism PDF
Preview Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism
Homegrown In Homegrown , cultural critics bell hooks and Amalia Mesa-Bains refl ect on the innate solidarity between Black and Latino culture. Riffi ng on everything from home and family to multiculturalism and the mass media, hooks and Mesa-Bains invite readers to re-examine and confront the polarizing mainstream discourse about Black–Latino relationships that is too often negative in its emphasis on political splits between people of color. A work of activism through dialogue, H omegrown is a declaration of solidarity that rings true even ten years after its fi rst publication. T his new edition includes a new preface by bell hooks and an after- word by Amalia Mesa-Bains. A cultural critic, an intellectual, and a feminist writer, b ell hooks is best known for classic books including Feminist Theory , Bone Black , All About Love , Rock My Soul , Belonging , We Real Cool , Where We Stand , Teaching to Transgress , Teaching Community , Outlaw Culture , and Reel to Real . hooks is Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College, and resides in her home state of Kentucky. Amalia Mesa-Bains is an artist and cultural critic. Her artworks, pri- marily interpretations of traditional Chicano altars, resonate both in contemporary formal terms and in their ties to her Chicano community and history. She has pioneered the documentation and interpretation of Chicano traditions in Mexican-American art and is a leader in the fi eld of community arts. Among her many awards is the distinguished MacArthur Fellowship. She is Professor Emerita in the Visual and Pub- lic Art department at California State University at Monterey Bay. Homegrown ENGAGED CULTURAL CRITICISM bell hooks and Amalia Mesa-Bains First published 2018 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Gloria Watkins and Amalia Mesa-Bains The right of Gloria Watkins and Amalia Mesa-Bains to be identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition published by South End Press 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: hooks, bell, 1952–author. | Mesa-Bains, Amalia, author. Title: Homegrown : engaged cultural criticism / bell hooks and Amalia Mesa-Bains. Description: New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. | “First edition published by South End Press 2006.” Identifi ers: LCCN 2017008434 | ISBN 9781138723078 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138723085 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315193229 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: African Americans—Social conditions. | Hispanic Americans—Social conditions. | Mexican Americans—Social conditions. | Feminist criticism—United States. | Hooks, Bell. | Mesa-Bains, Amalia. | Ethnicity—United States. | Multiculturalism—United States. | United States—Race relations. | United States—Social conditions. Classifi cation: LCC E185.86 .H736 2017 | DDC 305.896/073—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008434 ISBN: 978-1-138-72307-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-72308-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-19322-9 (ebk) Typeset in Garamond MT Std by Apex CoVantage, LLC This book is dedicated to the immigrant spirit and courage of my parents, Marina Gonzales Mesa and Lawerence Escobedo Mesa — Amalia Mesa-Bains In memoriam: Gloria Anzaldúa and Octavia Butler — bell hooks Contents preface to the new edition ix preface xi 1. family 1 2. feminist iconography 23 3. resistance pedagogies 41 4. public culture 57 5. multiculturalism 70 6. home 92 7. memory 101 8. altars 112 vii viii CONTENTS 9. day of the dead 118 afterword 127 afterword to the new edition 142 Preface to the New Edition I magination plays a vital role in the struggle for liberation globally. It is our imaginative skill which we bring to creative work that promotes, enhances, and sustains democracy and individual freedom. What we cannot imagine cannot come into being. When I fi rst saw work by Amalia Mesa-Bains, I was awed by the way in which she gathered a diverse body of material to create a geography of the heart, mapping her life story. Part of that imaginative journey is the migratory movement of her ancestors. Their immigration expresses the hopes and dreams of folk making homeplace here in the US yet never forgetting their deep ancestral roots. Like Amalia, I began my art practice focusing on my ancestors and my homeplace, Kentucky. Even though Amalia and I are both aca- demics, our true calling has been to the world of art-making, primarily linking creativity to social justice. When I fi rst considered a conversa- tion with Amalia, it was a serious crossing of boundaries. We have few conversations between Latinas and African American women. So often we are speaking about our relation to Whiteness. Our conversation has focused primarily on art and cultural politics because once again this is a world of critique and practice that women of color rarely inhabit. Imagine with us our joy in speaking to one another—what a radical ix
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