Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom

In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks-writer, teacher, and insur­gent black intellectual-writes about a new kind of education, edu­cation as the practice of freedom. Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal. bell hooks speaks to the heart of education today: how can we rethink teaching practices in the age of multiculturalism? What do we do about teachers who do not want to teach, and students who do not want to learn? How should we deal with racism and sexism in the classroom? Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines a practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is the rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise critical questions about eras and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself. "To educate as the practice of freedom", writes bell hooks, "is a way of teaching that anyone can learn." Teaching to Transgress is the record of one gifted teacher's struggle to make classrooms work.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Chapter 1 Engaged Pedagogy; Chapter 2 A Revolution of Values; Chapter 3 Embracing Change; Chapter 4 Paulo Freire; Chapter 5 Theory as Liberatory Practice; Chapter 6 Essentialism and Experience; Chapter 7 Holding My Sister’s Hand; Chapter 8 Feminist Thinking; Chapter 9 Feminist Scholarship; Chapter 10 Building a Teaching Community; Chapter 11 Language; Chapter 12 Confronting Class in the Classroom; Chapter 13 Eros, Eroticism, and the Pedagogical Process; Chapter 14 Ecstasy;

About the Author :
bell hooks is Distinguished Professor of English at City College in New York. She is the author of many books, most recently Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, also published by Routledge.

Review :
"Passionately defines the Black feminist point of view that needs to be reflected upon in classroom discussions." -- Contemporary Education "Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks is a book that I not only love, but assign every semester to my Introduction to Women's Studies class. It is one of the best descriptions of the purpose and function of education and the educator that I've ever read. And students love it. So if you know any professors or students who aren't familiar with it, recommend it highly." -- FeministBookstore News "Teaching to Transgress is useful as a platform for a critique of current notions and practices of teaching and learning." -- Canadian Home Economics Journal "After reading Teaching to Transgress I am once again struck by bell hooks's never-ending, unquiet intellectual energy, an energy that makes her radical and loving." -- Paulo Freire "Passionately defines the Black feminist point of view that needs to be reflected upon in classroom discussions." -- Contemporary Education "Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks is a book that I not only love, but assign every semester to my Introduction to Women's Studies class. It is one of the best descriptions of the purpose and function of education and the educator that I've ever read. And students love it. So if you know any professors or students who aren't familiar with it, recommend it highly." -- Feminist Bookstore News "Teaching to Transgress is useful as a platform for a critique of current notions and practices of teaching and learning." -- Canadian Home Economics Journal