The Necessity of Love

• Author: Cassandra Mary Frances Gonzalez
• DOI: 10.1177/21533687221098132
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Necessity of Love

Cassandra Mary Frances Gonzalez

1

Abstract

bell hooks was a tour-de-force in feminist studies and cultural studies, two disciplines that

are seemingly separate from criminal justice and criminology. That distance is what f‌irst

illuminated for me a critical need, an emptiness in how to connect and understand com-

munity and scholarship as a Black woman researching race, gender, and “justice.”Love,

according to hooks, is a source of transformation for individuals and for society. It is

that same principal of love and transformation that should be necessary for criminologists

who purport to study inequalities and the criminal legal system yet is often absent. Love is

also necessary to inspire evolution of academics and of scholarship.

Keywords

feminist theory < criminological theories, African/black Americans < race/ethnicity, black

feminist criminology < criminological theories, transformation, black women and girls

Introduction: Meeting Bell Hooks

My f‌irst introductionto bell hooks was in an undergraduate seminaron feminist theories.

hooks came into my life whenI was questioning howI could use my desire for learning

and justicein a post-bachelor’s degree life. My profes sor assigned Feminism is for every-

body: Passionat e politics. I was enmeshed with hook’s lyricism and felt seen. hook’s

writing seemed intimate and familiar like a relative who was sitting in a warm setting

as we exposed ourvulnerable selves and just talked.hooks reiterated that love isa neces-

sity for liberation. I had beentold that “love”was not to be used in research.Most of all, I

was told that my desireto infuse my scholarship with “love”meantthat I was pushing an

“agenda.”But I believe research should emerge from a place of love.

1

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville,

TX, United States

Corresponding Author:

Cassandra Mary Frances Gonzalez, Sam Houston State University, 816 17th St., Box 2296, Huntsville,

TX, 77341-2296, USA.

Email: cmg125@shsu.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2022, Vol. 12(3) 614-617

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/21533687221098132

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