Womanist approaches to the study of religion and society have contributed much to our understanding of Black religious life, activism, and women's liberation. Deeper Shades of Purple explores the achievements of this movement over the past two decades and evaluates some of the leading voices and different perspectives within this burgeoning field.Deeper Shades of Purple brings together a who's who of scholars in the study of Black women and religion who view their scholarship through a womanist critical lens. The contributors revisit Alice Walker's definition of womanism for its viability for the approaches to discourses in religion of Black women scholars. Whereas Walker has defined what it means to be womanist, these contributors define what it means to practice womanism, and illuminate how womanism has been used as a vantage point for the theoretical orientations and methodological approaches of Black women scholar-activists.Contributors: Karen Baker-Fletcher, Katie G. Cannon, M. Shawn Copeland, Kelly Brown Douglas, Carol B. Duncan, Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, Rachel Elizabeth Harding, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, Melanie L. Harris, Diana L. Hayes, Dwight N. Hopkins, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Kwok Pui-Lan, Daisy L. Machado, Debra Majeed, Anthony B. Pinn, Rosetta Ross, Letty M. Russell, Shani Settles, Dianne M. Stewart, Raedorah Stewart-Dodd, Emilie M. Townes, Traci C. West, and Nancy Lynne Westfield.
Acknowledgments Wisdom Rocked Steady [poem] Nancy Lynne WesteldIntroduction: Writing for Our LivesPart I Radical SubjectivityWhen Mama Was God [poem] 1 Structured Academic Amnesia2 From "Force-Ripe" to "Womanish/ist"3 Womanism Encounters Islam4 Standing in the Shoes My Mother MadePart II Traditional CommunalismRe?ecting\Black [poem] 5 Dancing Limbo6 Hospitality, Haints, and Healing7 Lessons and Treasures in Our Mothers' Witness8 "Mama Why ... ?" Part III Redemptive Self-LoveI've Been Mixed Like Cornbread [poem] 9 Twenty Years a Womanist: An Af?rming Challenge 10 A Womanist Journey 11 Quilting Relations with Creation12 The Sweet Fire of HoneyPart IV Critical EngagementNevertheless, in Stark Contradiction [poem] 13 Womanist Humanism14 A Thinking Margin15 The Womanist Dancing MindPart V Appropriation and ReciprocityThey Came Because of the Wailing [poem] 16 Womanist Visions, Womanist Spirit17 Lavender Celebrates Purple18 Womanists and Mujeristas, Sisters in the Struggle19 Mining the Motherlode20 What's the Theological Equivalent of a "Mannish Boy"?21 Lies above Suspicion: Being Human in Black Folk Tales22 Is a Womanist a Black Feminist? Selected Womanist Bibliography About the Contributors Index
