Transformative Religious Epistemologies of Black Women
The African Journal of Gender & Religion has published its latest special issue, "Black Women's Radical Religious Epistemologies in Mahogany and Steepled Towers." This issue, edited by Drs. CL Nash, Carol Marie Webster, and Geeta Patel, delves into the transformative religious epistemologies of African-descended women, highlighting their unique contributions to religious scholarship. The journal brings together diverse voices and perspectives to challenge and reshape conventional theological narratives, focusing on the intersection of African heritage and established religious institutions.
Background and Context
In response to exclusionary politics within religious scholarship, the Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network was established to amplify the religious knowledge production of African-descended women. The M2M network serves as the inspiration and foundation for this special issue, aiming to explore and transform traditional religious scholarship through Black women’s non-traditional or "radical" religious epistemologies. Historically, religious scholarship has been dominated by perspectives that marginalize minority voices, particularly those of Black African-descended women. This issue adopts a Pan-African definition of "Black" to include individuals whose ancestors are indigenous to the African continent.
The Radical as Transformative
The term "radical" in this context refers to the fundamental and transformative ways that Black women engage with and reinterpret religious traditions. The metaphor "Mahogany and Steepled Towers" symbolizes the intersection of African heritage (Mahogany) and established religious institutions (Steepled Towers). This issue explores the way these epistemologies challenge conventional theological narratives, fostering innovative and liberating theological perspectives.
Despite the long history and contributions of Womanist Theology and Ethics, Black women remain underrepresented in academic positions both in the US and the UK. This underrepresentation is evident in the disparity between the percentage of Black and minority individuals earning PhDs in religious scholarship and their representation in faculty positions.
Historical and Theoretical Framework
Black women’s religious practices are deeply rooted in the legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, colonialism, and forced migration. These practices emphasize collective resilience and spiritual empowerment. Womanist Theology, emerging in the late 20th century, provides a critical framework for understanding the intersectional identities of Black women, integrating postcolonial theory and critical race theory to address compounded oppressions in religious contexts.
The current literature on Black women’s religious epistemologies reveals significant gaps, often overlooking their unique contributions. This special issue aims to fill these gaps by foregrounding the voices and experiences of Black women scholars and practitioners. Womanist scholarship continues to provide a roadmap for understanding how women might engender understandings of the Divine through their intersectional identities, creating spaces for Black women to "breathe" and express their scholarship and religious leadership.
Themes and Scope
The essays in this issue cover a broad spectrum of Black women’s religious epistemologies, from African spiritualities in Nigeria and Jamaica to anti-colonial politics in Senegal, Sudan, and South Africa. Contributors explore how Black women navigate their religious identities and how these contexts foster innovative theological perspectives. These essays illustrate the radical nature of Black women’s religious knowledge production, enabling them to find pathways through the challenges they face in their everyday lives.
Highlights from the Issue
1. "Sufi Islam and Anti-Colonial Politics" by Ameena Al-Rasheed: This essay examines the transformation of Sudanese women's identities in the Diaspora, focusing on their religious practices in West Yorkshire, UK. Al-Rasheed highlights the role of Sudanese Sufi Islam in maintaining cultural traditions amidst predominant Islamic discourses in the UK, offering a nuanced understanding of African Muslim identities.
2. "Ọbịa by Igbo Spelling: Affirming the Value of After God is Dibịa" by Claudette Anderson: Anderson reexamines the practice of Ọbịa, often misunderstood and devalorized. Anderson positions it as a legitimate and invaluable spiritual tradition. This essay highlights the rich tradition of healing and spiritual wisdom in Ọbịa, reclaiming its significance from colonial narratives.
3. "Empowered Resistance: The Impact of an African Indigenous Faith on the 'Woman Who Was More Than a Man'" by Shandon C. Klein: Klein investigates the life of Aline Sitoë Diatta, a revolutionary figure in the Diola community of Senegal, exploring how Diatta's religious beliefs inspired her anti-colonial resistance.
4. "On/Unstained White Dress(es)…: Afro-Caribbean Female Purity in Sacred Spaces in Three Caribbean Women Poets" by Anna Kasafi Perkins: Perkins explores the symbolic significance of the white dress in the poetry of Jennifer Rahim, M. NourbeSe Philip, and Barbara Ferland, revealing the nuanced interplay between purity, race, and gender in Afro-Caribbean religious contexts.
5. "Doing Church Differently: Crafting a Church Using the Circle’s Theologizing Methodologies in a Xenophobic and Gendered Context" by Clementine Nishimwe: This essay examines how the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians’ methodologies address xenophobia and gender-based marginalization within church settings in South Africa.
Conclusion and Future Directions
This special issue is a timely intervention into Black women’s religious epistemologies, bringing together a diverse range of contributors who explore and expand the meaning of Blackness and its transnational sites. By highlighting the transformative power of religion in the lives of Black women, this issue fills significant gaps in the literature and calls for a reevaluation of existing academic paradigms.
Future research should aim to include a wider range of voices and experiences within Black women’s religious epistemologies. Interdisciplinary approaches that bridge the divide between academia and community practices can further enrich the understanding of the multifaceted experiences of Black women in religious contexts. Engaging directly with the communities affected by these discussions can provide valuable insights and drive policy advocacy to address the underrepresentation of Black women in academic and religious institutions.
In conclusion, "Black Women's Radical Religious Epistemologies in Mahogany and Steepled Towers" offers a profound exploration of the resilience, agency, and transformative power of Black women’s religious knowledge. It celebrates and elevates the radical, disruptive, and non-traditional usage of religious understandings and African cosmologies, forging paths to liberation where none existed before.
My special thanks to the authors and to the “dream team” editors with whom I had the privilege of working. Our intellectual exchanges have become, for me, womanist riffs of sweet melody and poetry.
Dr. CL Nash, The Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network © 2024
Click here to read the issue today: https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ajgr/index.