Building Womanist Coalitions
Writing and Teaching in the Spirit of Love
Gary L. Lemons (Edited by), M. Jacqui Alexander (Contributions by), Dora Arreola (Contributions by), Andrea Assaf (Contributions by), Kendra N. Bryant (Contributions by), Rudolph P. Byrd (Contributions by), Atika Chaudhary (Contributions by), Paul T. Corrigan (Contributions by), Fanni V. Green (Contributions by), Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Contributions by), Susie L. Hoeller (Contributions by), Ylce Irizarry (Contributions by), M. Thandabantu Iverson (Contributions by), Gary L. Lemons (Contributions by), Layli Maparyan (Contributions by), Erica C. Sutherlin (Contributions by)
9780252042423
Hardback, published 30 April 2019
262 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.513 kg
"Innovative, creative, and unapologetically spiritual, Building Womanist Coalitions reminds us why womanism is still as relevant today as it was several decades ago when Alice Walker first coined the term."--David Ikard, author of Lovable Racists, Magical Negroes, and White Messiahs
"Building Womanist Coalitions is a helplful resource for an instructor interested in better understanding womanist readings and or methodologies into the classroom." --Wabash Center Journal on Teaching
Over the last generation, the womanist idea--and the tradition blooming around it--has emerged as an important response to separatism, domination, and oppression. Gary L. Lemons gathers a diverse group of writers to discuss their scholarly and personal experiences with the womanist spirit of women of color feminisms. Feminist and womanist-identified educators, students, performers, and poets model the powerful ways that crossing borders of race, gender, class, sexuality, and nation-state affiliation(s) expands one's existence. At the same time, they bear witness to how the self-liberating theory and practice of women of color feminism changes one's life. Throughout, the essayists come together to promote an unwavering vein of activist comradeship capable of building political alliances dedicated to liberty and social justice. Contributors: M. Jacqui Alexander, Dora Arreola, Andrea Assaf, Kendra N. Bryant, Rudolph P. Byrd, Atika Chaudhary, Paul T. Corrigan, Fanni V. Green, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Susan Hoeller, Ylce Irizarry, M. Thandabantu Iverson, Gary L. Lemons, Layli Maparyan, and Erica C. Sutherlin
Title
Copyright
Contents
Foreword AnaLouise Keating
Introduction: "Womanist Is to Feminist as Purple Is to Lavender": Writing in Solidarity across Shade
Part I. Teaching in the "Universal[ist]" Spirit of Womanism
1. Spirituality in the Classroom: Some Womanist Reflections / Layli Maparyan
2. Coming into Being: Metta to Womanist Teachers / Kendra N. Bryant
3. Professing the Liberatory Power of Womanism / Gary L. Lemons
4. A Doctored Voice: Resistance, Reading, and Righting as Womanist Pedagogy / Ylce Irizarry
Part II. Womanist Alliances for Human Rights and Social Justice
5. Breaking Silence / M. Jacqui Alexander and Beverly Guy-Sheftall
6. From Exile to Healing: I "Too" Am a Womanist / Susie L.Hoeller
7. Nepantlera as Midwife of Empathy / Paul T. Corrigan
8. A Deeper Shade of Consciousness: My Voice Is My Resistance / Atika Chaudhary
Part III. Speaking and Acting Out in Womanist Solidarity
9. Transgenero Performance: Gender and Transformation in Mujeres en Ritual / Dora Arreola
10. Soy Mujer Cuando . . . A Collective Poem / Andrea Assaf
11. Now Is Not the Time for Silence: Writing and Directing What the Heart Remembers / Fanni V. Green
12. "I Come from a Dream Deferred" / Erica C. Sutherlin
13. On Becoming a Feminist / Rudolph P. Byrd
14. Compelled by the Spirit: My Journey to Become a Womanist Man / M. Thandabantu Iverson
Contributors
Index
