America letter # 11. Womanist theology.
February 17, 2008
Dear friends,
The first of the courses of the spring semester which you will get a presentation of is “Womanist Theology.” It is a module over four Monday afternoons, and we are half through already.
Womanist is about the experience of being black and female in the United States. The expression is not more than 25 years old, and comes from Alice Walker’s expression “womanish” which describes black women in a certain way. I first thought that womanism must be black feminism. But many womanists disagree. Feminism is white. Black women, though they are women, have not had the same opportunity to be feminists as white women. American feminism was developed by white middle class women, and is shaped by the struggles of white middle class women. Black working class women have had less to say and few feel at home in the feminism. If feminism is white women’s battle, then black feminism must be black white women’s battle, and that is not what they want. Womanism is black women’s battle, but not only that; womanists work for liberation of all oppressed, for a society without discrimination based on color, sex, class or sexuality.
In addition to being outside white women’s struggle for liberation, black women have also had less to say in black struggle for liberation. Black women have been discriminated by white women and black men, in addition to being double discriminated by white men. This multidimensional experience of discrimination has made an own movement for liberation necessary.
It is exciting to see what happens when womanism and theology meet. Like other liberation theologies, womanist theology is a theology starting from below with people’s experiences, rather than from above with doctrines about God. Some liberation theologies, feminist theology included, are in a certain danger of losing the theology, as they emphasize the human experience and the struggle for social liberation, and might then forget God or devalue God’s role in the liberation. I experience womanist theology to be less caught in the danger of losing the theology than other liberation theologies. Black women have Jesus inside. Jesus is the divine co-sufferer, and the Christology is very central in womanist theology.
In addition to the four Mondays with womanist theology, we will have a genuine womanist theologian as a guest speaker in the end of February. I look forward to that. We do read primary sources, but we are still a class consisting of white women and men. Womanist theology starts with the lived lives of black women, and though we do not live those lives ourselves, we can hopefully come a step closer by hearing a voice representing them, not only reading about them.
For those who find that womanist theology sounds exciting, I can recommend Hanne’s private Wartburg library which will open in Norway when I get back there in August. Those who are very eager (and who will not be in Norway to check out books) can get titles of books and articles before that.
Womanist supporter greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends,
The first of the courses of the spring semester which you will get a presentation of is “Womanist Theology.” It is a module over four Monday afternoons, and we are half through already.
Womanist is about the experience of being black and female in the United States. The expression is not more than 25 years old, and comes from Alice Walker’s expression “womanish” which describes black women in a certain way. I first thought that womanism must be black feminism. But many womanists disagree. Feminism is white. Black women, though they are women, have not had the same opportunity to be feminists as white women. American feminism was developed by white middle class women, and is shaped by the struggles of white middle class women. Black working class women have had less to say and few feel at home in the feminism. If feminism is white women’s battle, then black feminism must be black white women’s battle, and that is not what they want. Womanism is black women’s battle, but not only that; womanists work for liberation of all oppressed, for a society without discrimination based on color, sex, class or sexuality.
In addition to being outside white women’s struggle for liberation, black women have also had less to say in black struggle for liberation. Black women have been discriminated by white women and black men, in addition to being double discriminated by white men. This multidimensional experience of discrimination has made an own movement for liberation necessary.
It is exciting to see what happens when womanism and theology meet. Like other liberation theologies, womanist theology is a theology starting from below with people’s experiences, rather than from above with doctrines about God. Some liberation theologies, feminist theology included, are in a certain danger of losing the theology, as they emphasize the human experience and the struggle for social liberation, and might then forget God or devalue God’s role in the liberation. I experience womanist theology to be less caught in the danger of losing the theology than other liberation theologies. Black women have Jesus inside. Jesus is the divine co-sufferer, and the Christology is very central in womanist theology.
In addition to the four Mondays with womanist theology, we will have a genuine womanist theologian as a guest speaker in the end of February. I look forward to that. We do read primary sources, but we are still a class consisting of white women and men. Womanist theology starts with the lived lives of black women, and though we do not live those lives ourselves, we can hopefully come a step closer by hearing a voice representing them, not only reading about them.
For those who find that womanist theology sounds exciting, I can recommend Hanne’s private Wartburg library which will open in Norway when I get back there in August. Those who are very eager (and who will not be in Norway to check out books) can get titles of books and articles before that.
Womanist supporter greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 4:38 PM
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