Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom

hooks rejects writing in traditional academic prose that uses abstract jargon to convey ideas that have little relevance to the daily life of most people. She prefers to write in accessible, clear prose, full of anecdotes and voices that a general audience can understand. She understands why some people react to theory, dismissing it as irrelevant, but she fears that this anti-intellectualism is too sweeping in dismissing all theory as irrelevant to one’s daily life.

hooks has heard many women who say they prefer to trust their gut instincts and they have no interest in engaging in elitist theory, but hooks sees the necessity of theory because it gave her a way of understanding the world and her own experiences of oppression. She is hoping theory written in clear, accessible language will appeal to a wider audience so that people can use her ideas and readily apply them to their daily lives.

“Authority” can be used to oppress. If the professor insists on being the absolute authority in the classroom, or if white, middle-class students are the only ones to have the authority to speak, then the classroom becomes a site of oppression.