Black Women's Religious Epistemologies
Correcting the misnomer that knowledge production is an exclusive right to one group
When we speak about Black women's religious epistemologies (or knowledge production), doctoral and master's level students frequently ask me about the canon. What should they do about it? Should they ignore it, or should they embrace it? Perhaps we should expand it. There are many reasons that we add to the existing canon of religious scholarship. One of the most important reasons, however, is what scholars reference as "glossolalia," the art of speaking in tongues. What do we mean by this?
According to Britanica.com, Glossolalia comes from the Greek, (also called speaking in tongues, (from Greek glōssa, “tongue,” and lalia, “talking”), utterances approximating words and speech, usually produced during states of intense religious experience).
Carol Anderson's White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, further identifies the sociological and historical functioning of Whiteness and Christianity as two separate identities which have been collapsed into one concept. In contrast, womanism is a hermeneutical framework which centers Black, African descended women and locates their wisdom within community, liberation and shared concepts of equity. We must boldly speak in our mother tongues of wisdom and communal wholeness. Failing to do so could mean our utter destruction. Yet, we must also know the aspects of "canon" which have come through our European colleagues. In this way, it is important that we "code switch" or engage in "glossolalia."
When we speak of our epistemological unctioning within our own communal spaces, we must also interpret that academic tongue so that listeners will hear and appreciate what we are saying. Failing to do so, means we speak within our churches and communities, but we utter "nonsense," that is "unintelligible" speech to them.
We are sharing this Cite Black Women Podcast entitled, "A Candid Dialogue About Black Women's Knowledge Production and the Politics of Citation." Though they are not speaking as religious scholars, their focus is important for helping us understand how we bridge this gap between the knowledge we "must know," and the knowledge we already know. Having the wisdom to understand and elucidate the framework of Foucault, the history of Aristotle and even brillance of DuBois provides us with ample opportunity for critique as we compel those around us to stretch and grow! They are not only important because of valuable insights, but they simultaneously function as resources for identifying the gaps within knowledge production which make our presence essential.
How do Black women position their own knowledge production within the Religious Academy? From where do we get support? How do we "squad up" and form a sisterhood where we are - especially if there's no one else who looks like us? These are questions we will explore during 2023. A good place to start is the Cite Black Women Podcast, with a focus on the episode, "A Candid Dialogue About Black Women's Knowledge Production and The Politics of Citation."
Please listen to, "like" and share this podcast: S2E12: A Candid Dialogue About Black Women’s Knowledge Production and The Politics of Citation https://player.fm/1BHpDRC.