Theory as a location of healing

bell hooks (Amerikaanse schrijver, activist en feminist) schrijft: I came to theory because I was hurting – the pain within me was so intense that I could not go on living. I came to theory desperate, wanting to comprehend – to grasp what was happening around and within me. Most importantly, I wanted to make the hurt go away. I saw in theory then a location for healing. (…)

Theory is not inherently healing, liberatory, or revolutionary. It fulfills this function only when we ask that it do so and direct our theorizing towards this end.
Uit: Teaching to transgress. Education as the Practice of Freedom, 1994.

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