Understanding, Explaining and Interpreting the Process of Shaping a Woman’s Subjectivity on the Example of Bell Hooks Autobiography. A Study of Women’s Autobiographies in the Context of Thomas and Znaniecki’s Research

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to reflect on bell hooks’ autobiographies in the context of women’s process of self-empowerment. Following the principle of the humanistic coefficient (Znaniecki) and recognizing autobiography as a significant source in social research (Thomas, Znaniecki), my focus is to understand, explain and interpret the process of shaping a woman’s subjectivity by analysing bell hooks’ autobiographical essays. I am interested in her autobiography as a life story of a black woman, whose experiences have been shaped by racial segregation and desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s in the USA and for whom writing autobiography has been a manifestation of speaking with her own voice.