Black woman warrior: A rhetorical biography of bell hooks

To all the dream stompers, hope crushers, and spirit breakers, this is a story about one who got away. One who was able to escape your clutches and inspire others to do the same---bell hooks. The purpose of this investigation is to focus upon the narratives and rhetorical elements in the works of bell hooks, the inspirational Black woman warrior who shares through her writings her vision for liberation and a keen understanding of how it can be attained.;Through a description and critical analysis of the narratives in 19 books penned by hooks over her twenty-year career, this study explored her rhetorical style and the significance of her work to the communication field. Because bell's work asks her audience to challenge structures of power and control, an examination of her work using rhetorical theories that describe rhetoric/persuasion as an act of control or manipulation would have been counterproductive. Privileging those narratives that encourage a reclamation of language allowing those on the margins to insert themselves into scholarship that otherwise ignores or distorts their existence, this study used a nontraditional approach and appealed to a diverse body of scholarship relating to race, class, and gender politics to guide the analysis, which included a focus on narrative, theories of organic communication and identification, a rhetoric of difference, and African American communication styles.;The reluctance of the communication discipline of communication to acknowledge and value models that provide insight to the African/African-American experience has driven African-American scholars away from the discipline of communication to other disciplines that are more accepting of different methodologies and new ways of presenting scholarship. The ways in which bell allows her body, experience, intellect, and emotions to be the road map by which her audience is able to find their way can also provide the field of communication an opportunity to reconcile conflicts within the discipline.