“Homeplace is a site of resistance, healing, and liberation”
— bell hooks
Homeplace is…
A Safe Haven
Homeplace is a space of refuge and healing, a place to escape the harsh realities of the outside world.
A Site of Resistance
Homeplace is a space where minority folks can actively resist the dominant social structures that marginalise them.
A Place of Recovery
Homeplace is where individuals can reclaim their identities, restore their dignity, and affirm their sense of self.
A Vision of Liberation
Homeplace can be a space for imagining and working towards a future free from oppression.
Beyond Physical Space
Homeplace can be a physical location but also a state of mind, a way of creating spaces of belonging and resistance.
A mural of bell hooks in Berea, Kentucky. Photo by Kim Kobersmith
The concept of a Homeplace is from an essay by bell hooks, Homeplace (A site of resistance), first published in 1990 in her book Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics.
Gloria Jean Watkins (1952-2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was a powerhouse American writer, educator, and cultural critic. She used the lowercase styling of her name to decenter herself and put the spotlight on her work.
hooks became one of the most influential voices on race, gender, and capitalism, showing how these forces intersect to shape and perpetuate systems of oppression. Her work addressed love, race, social class, gender, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism.
We here are Homeplace Psychology continue to be inspired by her work.
bell hooks at her home in 1997. Photo by Joyce Dopkeen, New York Times