Belonging: A Culture of Place

Hooks introduces the central concern of the book—the search for belonging and meaning in contemporary life. She observes that many people feel aimless and struggle to imagine a sustainable life of peace and purpose. This collective sense of displacement is described as a “wilderness of spirit” (1), brought on by a culture of excess and alienation. Hooks evokes this existential yearning with Tracy Chapman’s lyric, “I wanna wake up and know where I’m going” (1). She also reflects on her grandmother Baba, who lived a life governed by seasonal rhythms and rooted in a walkable world. Baba’s example contrasts with hooks’s search for a place to call home, which initially took her across the country but ultimately led back to her home state of Kentucky—an outcome she had not anticipated.

The essays in this collection reflect hooks’s personal journey, often returning to themes of land, memory, and regional identity. She notes that the book is sometimes repetitive due to overlapping topics across the essays. Major subjects to appear include land ownership, Black farmers, organic and local food production, the environmental movement, and the racial and economic politics of place. The legacy of enslavement and continuing racial inequality in Kentucky are key concerns, as are the broader social and ecological implications of sustainability.