homegrown engaged cultural criticism bell hooks amalia mesa-bains

A one hour radio show interviewing bell hooks and Amalia mesa-Bains, both are authors of homegrown, engaged cultural criticism.

Bell hooks has been one of my favorite cultural critics for the past ten years. She writes about cultural politics, feminism, education from a critical perspective. She write about theory but simplifies it and does not use a lot of jargon that makes it critical without obfuscating the seminal points. This book is different from her other books, in that, it has a dialogue with a Chicano artist Amalia Mesa-Bains. The topics the two women engage with are family, feminist iconography, resistance pedagogies, public culture, multiculturalism, home, memory, altars and the day of the dead.

When speaking of innovation, they both felt that taking a product and altering it for your own is increasing dying out. Amalia gave an interesting example of how Tommy Hilfiger took over the creation, marketing and production of Hip Hop Clothing. bell writes about how the resistance of the street was “how dare you try to sell me back this appropriation”. The street defies that by creating anew. But now people want to be identified with labels like Versace.

“This erasure of creativity, this recolonization of imagination, creates mannequins. Everything becomes part of a new plantation economy, so the Black body becomes the mannequin on which white fantasies of otherness are played out.”

The chapter on multiculturalism, explains how the term, grew out of the business world to combat loss of business to Japan, by holding diversity workshops. In keeping with this trend, we now have multicultural marketing, where focus groups analyze what products they can sell to minorities. Instead of focusing on issues of literacy, representation, education or economic enfranchisement the focus shifts to Hispanic celebrities and popular culture.

bell talks about the limitations of identity politics that does not acknowledge radical critiques of domination. For instance Afrocentrism is a conservative identity politics, rooted in fundamentalist religion. Also identity politics often obfuscates class issues. For instance class interests of poor black people on welfare are more linked to class interests of Chicana and Chicano farm workers than wealthy or middle class blacks.

In terms of artistic production, bell wants to be able to interrogate which artists are supported by museums and other art establishments and those that are marginalized from the establishment. She feels it is the artist’s responsibility to be able to engage with the audience that they create the art for. Carrie Mae Weems did not eschew the issue of accountability, while artist Kara Walker did not want to discuss the implications of her work with her audience.

This book is powerful as you read on, the first few sections were not so strong but starting with the chapter on multiculturalism, theory was discussed and analysis was undertaken. Memory, altars and the day of the dead, were powerful chapters on how the authors understood, spiritual memory as a resource for resistance and spiritual healing.