Homeplace

The term homeplace is a subjective space of safety and political power created by African American women for the sustained psychological well-being [Page 530]of their loved ones. The theory of homeplace was constructed by cultural critic Gloria Watkins, better known by her pen name of bell hooks (all lower case), and explicated in her groundbreaking essay, Homeplace: A Site of Resistance. Homeplace remains an explicit demonstration of the complex nature of black women's love for their family and the black community at large. It also contains a specifically political element and remains the key component of black solidarity in the midst of what she considers to be a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

Homeplace is designed for two significant and simultaneous developments. Its primary purpose is as ...