About a Little Black Country Girl - Part 5 of 5

And now, the fifth and final episode of "About a Little Black Country Girl"

Back from the start - Some could say that the situation I described is only possible in this poor third world country where I was born, or in this specific poor rural area my family is from, so very different from the capital.

But during the school year I live in the most affluent city in one of the most affluent countries in the world, and there too people cook my meals and do my dishes (for years even cleaned my room and changed my bed) so that I may have the leisure to read and write.

It may be a coincidence that these people there happen to be predominantly Mexican, just as it may be just a coincidence that Cielza happens to be black. But maybe not.

In “Theory as Liberatory Practice”, bell hooks says:

When our lived experience of theorizing is fundamentally linked to processes of self-recovery, of collective liberation, no gap exists between theory and practice. Indeed, what such experience makes more evident is the bond between the two – that ultimately reciprocal process wherein one enables the other.

Theory is not inherently healing, liberatory, or revolutionary. It fulfills this function only when we ask that it do so and direct our theorizing towards this end. (Teaching to Transgress, p.61)

And this is why I write this, for the sake of those who, some times not even knowing how to read or write, make my reading and writing possible.

It is to them that I dedicate this, to Cielza and Paulo Freire, Socrates and bell hooks, parents and grandparents, great-great-grandparents and the whole family, college and church community (fellows and staff), God and fellow humans, writers and readers, everyone else without whom my work would not be possible. To you my profound gratitude.

***THE END***