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Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem
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In Rock My Soul, world-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed from slavery to the present day.
Why do so many African Americans -- whether privileged or poor, urban or suburban, young or old -- live in a state of chronic anxiety, fear, ...more
Why do so many African Americans -- whether privileged or poor, urban or suburban, young or old -- live in a state of chronic anxiety, fear, ...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
January 6th 2004
by Washington Square Press
(first published December 31st 2002)
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Showing 1-30
Jun 30, 2012
Rowena
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
afrocentric,
african-american,
non-fiction,
sociology,
favorites,
favourite-authors,
bell-hooks
Rock My Soul is about self-esteem in the African-American community. I’m not African-American and therefore some of the points she makes in her book do not apply to me, though they were interesting to read about. The main point the book makes is that, as a group, blacks have internalized so much negativity and falsehoods, dating back from slavery times, and also compounded by media images (especially eurocentric ones which paint any black features and characteristics as bad) that self-esteem is
...more
I will probably have to buy this - so much to digest and take in! As someone online a lot, the refrain seems to be the same - "why don't you black people take responsibility? Why are you killing each other? Why are you so ANGRY?" In America, we are products of a society that tells us that, basically, we ain't shit, and from our beginnings to our endings, we have alternating messages - keep your head down, and maybe you'll get somewhere.
Not only does this offer some answer as to how this comes up ...more
Not only does this offer some answer as to how this comes up ...more
Bell Hooks is a militant feminist. Her writing is not for the faint of heart.
I confess I am late to the bell hooks bandwagon, and Rock My Soul is my second introduction. My first introduction is the essay she wrote for the Feminist Wire critiquing Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In", which I have not read yet. I'm quite taken with hooks' ability to marry the academic with the accessible. As one of my old professors once said, hooks writes so the "goats can get at it." In this book, hooks interrogates the the problem of self-esteem for individual black folks and black America. Sh
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One of the few books I've read twice. Amazing read.
Lots of us struggle with shame - not feeling like we are enough, or capable of being of any good in the world. bell hooks' examination of shame among black people in the United States brings systematic and cultural racism into the reader's understanding of how shame disables and disempowers, and the healing work ahead that is cultural, institutional, and personal. Powerful, vulnerable, revealing, and encouraging, this is a must read for those unlearning racism and divesting themselves of bigotry
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I have read and re-read Bell Hooks book on black masculinity and this book reverberates many of the themes in that book. Blacks overall lack of self-esteem, the destructive nature of patriarchy on the
black community, and outlines for healing culturally entrenched damage to the psyche. At times I felt the book spent too much time reaffirming the destructive nature of past, However I would recommend this book
to anyone attempting to understand the black community and the issues that continue to pla ...more
Sep 11, 2010
Ashley
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
black people, young people, people interested in self-esteem, cross-cultural understanding
great book for relating the untold history from the civil rights era to now that has resulted in so much normalized pathology within the black community. great examples of how to create healthy self-esteem for anybody.
Very enlightening and powerful.
I never thought that black people lacked self esteem. Quite the contrary especially with the amount of spotlight they are given and the culture they have developed in which they like to outdo one another. But upon further examination and provoking thoughts generated by "rock my soul," I'm starting to realize maybe the flashiness that some blacks exhibit is to cover up their lack of self esteem because if you truly value yourself, the materials you own and the money you make shouldn't justify you
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A great deal of wisdom here.
“enslaved black folk often experienced intense despair engendered by overwhelming feelings of powerlessness. Since the intent of colonization and slavery was to strip the slave of all agency, religious experience that enabled black people to identify with enduring the suffering of bondage while maintaining hope was life-sustaining….Identifying with a god of justice, who not only chooses the poor and oppressed but loves them especially, enabled exploited and oppressed ...more
“enslaved black folk often experienced intense despair engendered by overwhelming feelings of powerlessness. Since the intent of colonization and slavery was to strip the slave of all agency, religious experience that enabled black people to identify with enduring the suffering of bondage while maintaining hope was life-sustaining….Identifying with a god of justice, who not only chooses the poor and oppressed but loves them especially, enabled exploited and oppressed ...more
Very important work. Constantly amazed at how much I learn from bell. This book is healing.
I really want to love Bell Hooks, I really do. However, her books all fall short for me. This is the 2nd or 3rd book of hers I have read and just like the previous ones, this one is pretty forgettable. I remember reading Sisters of the Yams, but I am hard pressed to remember any memorable take-aways from it. "Rock My Soul" is about showing how the many ills in the black community result from the lack of self-esteem. Again, I didn't get any groundbreaking nuggets from the book about the subject.
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"Soul is the toughness born of hard times and the compassion oppressed people develop after centuries of sharing a laof that is never enough...soul is the graceful survival under impossible circumstances
I love bell hooks....but I forgot that I'm not a big fan of the way she writes at times....it can be a tad bit repetitive and halfway through I felt like we weren't covering any new ground. But this book was exactly what I needed this summer.
Had to read for a class in undergrad. Also did a presentation on it.
Very Insightful
Jun 14, 2014
Anass Zad
added it
amazing book wow
Must read for soul-soothing.
this book is fabulous. i will read it again soon. so much insight.
An exploration of causes of low self esteem in African Americans and a path toward healing.
I don't think I'll finish the whole book (library copy), but it's filled with so much info I've been thinking about the Black community in America for a long time now. Definitely worth reading
Something to read and ponder again and again.
The most important book I've ever read. Will definitely revisit periodically. A must read... For everyone.
bell hooks is amazing. I will probably re-read this book next year.
A must-read for anyone interested in or connected to black experience.
Very hard to get into. Had to put it down.
Apr 09, 2009
Travonne Thompson
is currently reading it
a great read so far when im finished ill update
Jul 28, 2011
Mariette
added it
wow
Jun 07, 2008
Aoliver
marked it as to-read
Amazing Bell Hooks does it again, but I have to finish reading this one!
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bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins) is an African-American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing has focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She has published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in
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“One of the most subversive institutions in the United States is the public library..”
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“Any black person who clings to the misguided notion that white people represent the embodiment of all that is evil and black people all that is good remains wedded to the very logic of Western metaphysical dualism that is the heart of racist binary thinking. Such thinking is not liberatory. Like the racist educational ideology it mirrors and imitates, it invites a closing of the mind.”
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