A strategy for sensuousness: the practice of love in politics
Love as a political practice is consistently erased and undervalued in public policy and activism. A love ethic is, however, essential for myriad positive changes in our societies. The erasure must end.
Bell hooks 1988 - Montikamoss, Wikimedia Commons
There is not, nor has there ever really been, an ongoing public discourse about love as a political practice in our society. This is so peculiar because, in one sense, love occupies a primal position in our lives. Though simultaneously, maybe it does not. Erich Fromm, the German sociologist and humanistic philosopher, writes that “the principle underlying capitalistic society and the principle of love are incompatible.” So, maybe it is no surprise that in societies where capitalism is unfettered, we neither discuss nor practise love in public life.
If love does surface in the public domain, it is mostly in popular culture. This, however, is confined to (a frequently unrealistic conception of) romantic love. Film, fiction and (smushy) self-help literature are the primary modes used for this. Without delving too deeply into the shortcomings of these works with regard to their heavily gendered and patriarchal depictions of romantic love (which could be a whole other article!), the fact that it is only romantic love that appears in public discussion is itself a problem. There is no space created beyond this.
Furthermore, any subsequent discussion derived from the portrayal of love in popular culture is worryingly interwoven with a paralysing cynicism. There is the sort of “girlboss” attitude that rejects love, the need for it, even its existence. Though ostensibly an approach to empower women, it really does nothing to deconstruct the problematic structures that lead to our problematic, disempowering conceptions of love, refusing to engage with the idea of love at all. As bell hooks said in “All About Love”, “remaining open to love is crucial for our survival.”
As love is a real need in every human being, time should be invested in delineating what it means and how to practise it. More specifically, time should be invested in delineating the practice of love in the public domain. As bell hooks articulates in the above quote, love is crucial in our lives. Therefore, it is deeply unsettling that weaving a love ethic into public life is not at the forefront of our politics. Yet, the politicisation of love is a task that is constantly refrained from.
On the politicisation of love, I have drawn waves of inspiration from writers like bell hooks and Minna Salami. Their works, “All About Love” and “Sensuous Knowledge”, respectively dovetail one another so beautifully to articulate ideas and strategies on the practice of love in public life and politics. The very existence of their writing serves to demonstrate that there is an articulable body of thought on this. However, this form of thought which centres a love ethic has been consistently undervalued, even though it is this guidance that our societies require, now more than ever.
Bell hooks delineates a “love ethic” we should adopt without question. “A love ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and live well.” Prefacing our actions and interactions in the public domain with such an ethic is to recognise love as a social phenomenon, not simply individual-exceptional. This is the politicisation of love that we require. Conceptualising love as a social phenomenon, as bell hooks does, should lead us to act in a way that properly recognises, and invests in, the interdependence between each one of us. “When we love, we openly and honestly express care, affection, responsibility, respect, commitment and trust.”
It is so easy to dismiss or ridicule discussions of love, but it is undeniable that emotions are completely formative in how our society operates. Right now, the unfettered capitalism in many societies deifies emotions like greed and selfishness. The emphasis on the primacy of the individual is, however, at the expense of us as a collective, our interdependence. This individualism informs our actions, our interactions and our public policy. So, to instead underpin them with emotions associated with love, with love itself, would be impactful to say the least. In short, society today defers to the absence of love. We could instead challenge ourselves to embrace it, to each undertake a personal revolution in our values.
Minna Salami is, today, doing some of the most important theorising on the practice of love in politics. It is beautifully interwoven with the work of bell hooks. She writes that “as the reigning system is soulless, the remedy is a way of knowing that incorporates a language of love.” The idea that our perception of knowledge through language shapes our reality was eloquently articulated by Toni Morrison in her 1993 Nobel Prize lecture. “Oppressive language”, she said, “does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.” Hence, adopting a language of love is, as put by bell hooks, so important “as a means to end domination and oppression.”
How we adopt a language of love, and a love ethic, is a question on which Minna Salami has myriad wisdom to impart. I was lucky enough to speak with Minna Salami for a project I am working on and, of course, few could articulate the practice of love in politics better than her. So, I will quote her at some length. On practicing love, she said we have to “refuse to be co-opted by current power structures. And it's very difficult to do that because current power structures shape our way of thinking and being and interacting with ourselves, others and with nature in really subtle ways quite often. So, to practice love, to encourage a more loving society, is counterintuitive. It means being really vigilant when we are being called to support things that are destructive and unloving.”
To actualise love requires us to think: “whenever we are in a situation where we make a conscious choice, we can choose to bring more love and wisdom to the world or bring more division and confusion. I'm simplifying but the vigilance I'm referring to is important. Individually and collectively, we will never reach perfection, it's an ongoing process of thinking when making a choice: which direction do I want to go towards?”
I do not wish to deify love, nor suggest that a love ethic alone can transform the public domain and our public policy. I am, however, saying it is essential to our conduct of public life to consider the political practice of love. In many ways, it is the gateway to myriad further changes that must take place to reconstruct our societies for the good.
In a short column like this, I cannot do justice to the complexity and nuance of the works of writers like bell hooks and Minna Salami. If you do one thing after reading this short piece, pick up their books and read them deeply. Then, actualise their ideas in your own actions and interactions. This is the sensuous strategy.
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This article is published as part of A Feminist Lens series, written by Pi Media columnist Katie Sperring.