How does society shape our understanding of love? Can we transcend societal limitations to cultivate more love in our lives?
In this one-session course offered on Valentine's Day, we will delve into the complexities and nuances of love in all its dimensions, as explored in bell hooks' classic work All About Love. We will explore the various forms of love, including platonic, familial, self-love, and romantic love, that play a role in our lives and communities.
Through discussion and examination of hooks' core ideas, including the interconnectedness of love in our private and public lives, the ways in which our societal notions of love often fail us, and the importance of love in promoting healthy relationships and functioning politics, we will broaden our understanding of love.
As hooks states in the book, "Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust. It is both an act and a process." All About Love is thought-provoking because we are asked to think about love as a political act and, often, one that is revolutionary.
Love is an action, not simply a feeling. Love requires practice and it is not passive. It is the practice of love that makes us fully human. It is the practice of love that is the foundation of any truly revolutionary politics." - bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions
Join us as we grapple with the question of how to build a love-filled life and learn to embrace the radical nature of love.