Belonging: A Culture of Place

The Black Arts Movement was a cultural and political movement of the 1960s and 1970s that sought to promote artistic expression rooted in Black identity, political liberation, and community empowerment. In Belonging, hooks reflects on its influence on her early understanding of art and aesthetics, noting both its strengths and limitations. While she appreciates the movement’s role in affirming Black creativity and rejecting Eurocentric artistic standards, she also critiques its tendency toward prescriptive definitions of “authentic” Black art. Hooks argues that these rigid standards could stifle experimentation and exclude artists whose work did not conform to nationalist aesthetics. Her discussion of the Black Arts Movement contributes to her broader exploration of aesthetics, creativity, and the importance of cultural production in both resisting oppression and sustaining community life.

A community of care is a social network bound together by mutual responsibility, shared rituals, and sustained acts of support. In Belonging, hooks uses the term to describe the kind of nurturing environment that can counteract the isolating effects of individualism and consumer capitalism. She applies the concept to both family and chosen communities, illustrating how care can be expressed through shared meals, attentive listening, and collective problem-solving. Hooks also reflects on caring for her aging parents as an example of living out this ethic. For hooks, a community of care is essential to building social systems that prioritize well-being over profit and domination. This idea connects closely to her calls for anti-racist, feminist, and ecologically mindful ways of living.

A term popularized by Wendell Berry, “culture of place” describes a way of life rooted in deep connection to land, community, and local traditions. For Berry, it embodies environmental stewardship, self-sufficiency, and the moral value of living sustainably. Bell hooks adopts and reframes the term to address racial history and exclusion, arguing that a true culture of place must confront white supremacy and reclaim Black agrarian heritage. In Belonging, hooks envisions an inclusive, anti-racist version of this ideal, blending ecological care with social justice to create communities where belonging is grounded in both environmental responsibility and equity.

Dominator culture is a concept hooks uses throughout her work to describe systems of social organization based on hierarchy, control, and exploitation. In Belonging, she applies it to both environmental and social contexts, linking the degradation of the earth to the dehumanization of marginalized communities. Dominator culture thrives on the belief that power is gained through domination rather than mutual respect, and it is reinforced by capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. Hooks calls for replacing this model with one rooted in care, reciprocity, and an ethic of sustainability—principles she sees as vital to restoring both ecological and social well-being.

The Great Migration refers to the mass movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North and West between roughly 1916 and 1970. Hooks views this migration as a turning point that severed many Black communities from their agrarian heritage and deepened their estrangement from the natural world. While it offered escape from the harshest forms of racial violence in the South, it also often meant exchanging rural self-sufficiency for economic dependency in cities. Hooks reflects on the cultural losses of this migration while acknowledging its role in reshaping Black identity and community.

“Healing talk” is hooks’s term for open, honest dialogue that fosters understanding, repair, and transformation. In Belonging, she uses the phrase to describe her recorded conversations with Wendell Berry, where they bridge divides of race, class, and experience to explore shared values around land, community, and justice. For hooks, healing talk is not merely conversation but a deliberate act of crossing boundaries, confronting painful histories, and affirming mutual respect. This practice reflects her broader belief that storytelling and truth-telling are essential tools for dismantling domination and building inclusive cultures of belonging.

Oppositional consciousness refers to the mindset and strategies that enable individuals and communities to resist dominant cultural narratives and systems of oppression. Hooks links this consciousness to her own upbringing, where she learned from elders and activists to question mainstream values and embrace alternative ways of living. She presents oppositional consciousness as essential to reclaiming Black agrarian traditions, challenging environmental destruction, and creating spaces of true belonging. For hooks, it is not enough to critique the dominant order; one must cultivate a sustained awareness and willingness to live differently, even in the face of social or economic pressure to conform.