bell hooks might not have described herself as an abolitionist. Others might not as well. I am not preoccupied with proving she was one. What I want to consider is how hooks’s thinking is relevant to abolition, as she grappled with addressing harm, violence, and trauma in non-punitive ways. Here I consider insights hooks offers abolition in her discussions of two topics: confessional writing and healing.  The political is not just the personal hooks often told personal stories. She recounted in Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work, “When I first began writing feminist theory, I did not include personal confession. I began to use confessional anecdotes as a strategy to engage diverse readers. Coming from a black working-class background, I was especially concerned with the importance of creating liberatory feminist theory that would speak to as many folks as possible.… Read More...