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bell hooks writes on the necessity of visionary thinking for feminist activist movements in many of her texts, one important text being Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. In this text, she draws on Audre Lordes famous essay, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters House," and reflects on ways this text has been oft-quoted, yet often misunderstood and acted on in ways Lorde intended. hooks writes, Lorde "was urging us to remember that we must engage in a process of visionary thinking that transcends the ways of knowing privileged by the oppressive powerful. . . . it is easy for women and any exploited or oppressed group to become complicit in structures of domination, using power in ways that reinforce rather than challenge or change" (36-37).
Such visionary thinking is difficult to do, as we obviously see in the violent historical and contemporary contexts that we all work within, with oppression and structures of power informing our everyday experiences as we navigate within such structural violence. By theorizing the personal from a framework of love and care grounded in hooks's feminist theory, this article, will explore what I (Anna) have learned while directing a writing center that attempts to be a community of resistance, as my co-authors and I experienced both institutional and state pushback and backlash against our recent antiracist initiatives. Through theorizing these experiences, with reflections from my co-authors, we call for a resilient and reflective solidarity grounded in three touchstones: a continual commitment to doing the work ofequity and justice, open and honest dialogue with staff (our community), and ongoing learning of institutional and state knowledge to carry this work through.
Learning from Feminist Theory: Community and Solidarity through Love and Care
Building communities is difficult work, particularly communities grounded in love; this type of coalitional work, and establishing an ethos of love, is especially difficult at academic institutions where intellectual expertise has been commodified, and many academics participate in such privatization of education through an "intellectual us" versus "public them" mindset. Com- munity work is done through creativity, persistence, and is grounded in a vision of love and care; to quote hooks in an article she wrote with Buddhist monk, Thích Nhat Hanh, "I think we best realize love...