DOCSLIB.ORG

Examining Maternal Ambivalence and Refusal in Black Motherhood

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Examining Maternal Ambivalence and Refusal in Black Motherhood Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses Studies 5-2-2018 Our Sacrifice Shall Not Be Required: Examining Maternal Ambivalence and Refusal in Black Motherhood Candice J. Merritt Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/wsi_theses Recommended Citation Merritt, Candice J., "Our Sacrifice Shall Not Be Required: Examining Maternal Ambivalence and Refusal in Black Motherhood." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/wsi_theses/66 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. OUR SACRIFICE SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED: EXAMINING MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE AND REFUSAL IN BLACK MOTHERHOOD by CANDICE J. MERRITT Under the Direction of Tiffany King, PhD ABSTRACT This thesis articulates motherhood as both a liberal and black humanist formation that conditions black women to mother and attempts to untether maternity from the black female body. By centering maternal ambivalence—the desire and distaste for motherhood—in selected works by black women, this thesis argues that black motherhood is an ambivalent site for some black women. Motherhood can be a site of joy and displeasure; sacrifice and refusal; life and death. INDEX WORDS: Black Motherhood, Maternal Ambivalence, Black Feminism OUR SACRIFICE SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED: EXAMINING MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE AND REFUSAL IN BLACK MOTHERHOOD by Candice J. Merritt A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Art in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Candice Janelle Merritt 2018 Our Sacrifice Shall Not Be Required: Examining Maternal Ambivalence and Refusal in Black Motherhood by Candice J. Merritt Committee Chair: Tiffany King Committee: Susan Talburt Susana Morris Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2018 iv DEDICATION To My Self—the Mother and Daughter— I Am, Try-ing to Save. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Tiffany King, Dr. Susan Talburt, and Dr. Susana Morris for their valuable feedback, and my partner, Kaitlin Commiskey, for reading and catching errors my eyes could not see. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ V 1 INTRODUCTION THE SEARCH FOR BLACK MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE AND CLAIMING BLACK FEMALE MONSTROSITY .......................... 1 1.1 Literature Review ........................................................................................... 14 1.1.1 Motherhood, Capitalism, and Patriarchy: Traditional Feminist Criticism .. 14 1.1.2 Black Feminist Theories of Motherhood ....................................................... 21 1.1.3 Visiting the Black Feminist Theoretical Archive of Motherhood ................. 32 1.2 Research Questions ......................................................................................... 45 1.3 Methodology .................................................................................................... 45 2 CHAPTER ONE : “I THINK I MADE A MISTAKE”: EXAMINING BLACK MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE IN JOANNA CLARK’S “MOTHERHOOD” .................. 56 3 CHAPTER TWO: WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR MOTHER: PEARL CLEAGE’S HOSPICE AND THEORIZING BLACK MATERNAL ABSENCE ............... 80 4 CHAPTER THREE: “NO, GODDAMAIR”: THEORIZING BLACK MOTHERHOOD AS A SITE OF BLACK WOMEN’S DEATH ...................................... 1000 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 1311 1 1 INTRODUCTION THE SEARCH FOR BLACK MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE AND CLAIMING BLACK FEMALE MONSTROSITY More than a decade ago, I left my home and child in the Midwest to attend a private university in the South. I took guilt and resentment with me—but, mainly guilt. Although my own mother encouraged me to go anywhere for school while she and my father agreed to take care of my child, I never really forgave myself for my absence. It was even harder to forgive myself for having the desire to leave in the first place. What kind of black mother would leave her child, especially when given the option to stay and raise her family with the support of loved ones? The question raked me. That desire for leaving home felt illicit. That desire meant leaving the child and forgoing the possibility of becoming an enduring black mother who worked hard to support herself and her family. In more personal terms, it meant not becoming the maternal figure that my mother came to function and represent in my lifetime—a black mother who is a pinnacle of strength and self-sacrifice. Naturally, guilt tucked away my desire inside my throat; my tongue struggled to admit its existence. I still attended school like I wanted. But, when someone would ask after knowing that I had a small child back home, the only verbal admissions that felt socially permissive were, “Yes, I miss home” and “Yes, I do miss my son very much.” But, I knew inside I felt otherwise. The desire for leaving became less forbidden after sharing with a white feminist professor that I struggled with feelings around being a mother away from home. She recommended that I read works by Adrienne Rich and Anne Lamont. I got my hands on a copy of Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born. I read the introduction and her chapter on Tenderness and Anger. In that 2 moment, I felt the meaning of the word groundbreaking. I had found diary entries much like my own. Select excerpts reminded me of my personal corpus of pages filled with unspeakable words about being a mother buried away in old shoeboxes in my closet. Those pages were meant for my eyes, and my eyes only. Yet, Rich openly shared hers which were joined by powerful reflections such as: Unexamined assumptions: First, that a “natural” mother is a person without further identity, one who can find her chief gratification in being all day with small children, living at a pace tuned to theirs; that the isolation of mothers and children together in the home must be taken for granted; that maternal love is, and should be, quite literally selfless; that children and mothers are the “causes” of each others’ suffering. I was haunted by the stereotype of the mother whose love is “unconditional”; and by the visual and literary images of motherhood as a single-minded identity. If I knew parts of myself existed that would never cohere to those images, weren’t those parts then abnormal, monstrous? (22-23) I had always felt like an unforgivable creature for not wanting to mother. I certainly wanted my son to be taken care of and to be happy, but I had never really wanted to be mother— the all sacrificing and nourishing figure my mother tried to groom me to become. I have often attributed my maternal aberration to becoming pregnant at a young age. Yet, Rich struggled with her maternal ambivalence—her love and her hate of mothering—as a married, adult woman living in a middle-class neighborhood in Northeastern United States. She even had hired help. By normative cultural standards, she followed the correct script. I was the one who strayed the path and, as a result, suffered from abhorrent thoughts and feelings. Reading Rich’s personal and theoretical writings, however, showed me that my maternal feelings did not occur in a social 3 vacuum. My desires for wanting more than motherhood felt connected to other mothers, and a whole book existed with a mother writing from her personal I perspective while also discussing history and political ideologies surrounding gender and sexuality. The publication felt sacred. Yet, deep down I still wished that the mother who wrote those words were of a darker complexion. I yearned for my mother’s voice, her own history, and writings. I also yearned for my own. As I have envisioned and cultivated this project over the last several years, I have searched for the black woman’s equivalent to Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born. A black mother’s oeuvre on maternal ambivalence in the form of collected essays has still felt personally necessary. My yearning for the form, however, has only provided me with a dearth of results—a large gap, in fact. I have gone through a number of black women’s writings collections: The Black Woman: An Anthology, All the Women are White, All the Men are Black, But Some of Us Are Brave, In Search of Our Mothers’ Garden, Double Stitch: Black Women Write on Mothers and Daughters, Flat Footed Truths: Telling Black Women’s Lives, Words of Fire, Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies, Black Motherhood(s): Contours, Contexts and Considerations, Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women, and Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines. Essays predominate these notable collections, but rarely do they feature a black woman writing from the perspective of a black mother who expresses maternal desires away from family and child(ren) nor a concrete experience-driven personal essay that problematize assumptions that desire motherhood altogether for black women. I turned to black feminist theoretical works, hoping to find “true”
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rhetoric and Resistance in Black Women's Autobiography
    Rhetoric and Resistance in Black Women’s Autobiography Copyright 2003 by Johnnie M. Stover. This work is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No De- rivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to electronically copy, distribute, and transmit this work if you attribute authorship. However, all printing rights are reserved by the University Press of Florida (http://www.upf.com). Please con- tact UPF for information about how to obtain copies of the work for print distribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permis- sion from the University Press of Florida. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola Rhetoric and Resistance in Black Women’s Autobiography ° Johnnie M. Stover University Press of Florida Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers Copyright 2003 by Johnnie M.
    [Show full text]
  • 1563812647Filesdcbrochure2.Pdf
    58E SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE LE JOYEUX MÉLANGE DES GENRES Fidèle à la mission de la Semaine de la Critique, cette 58e sélection fait le pari de la découverte à travers onze premiers et seconds longs métrages qui révèlent autant de nouveaux regards. Plusieurs cinéastes détournent les codes du genre et les mélangent pour mieux nous surprendre. Véritable sensation du dernier festival de Cannes, J’ai perdu mon corps est un film d’animation d’une grande modernité qui conjugue différents rythmes et tonalités. Avec A White, White Day, Hlynur Pálmason réalise un faux polar autour de la quête obsessionnelle de vengeance d’un mari trompé. Dans Les héros ne meurent jamais, Aude Léa Rapin joue avec les codes de la fiction et du documentaire pour questionner nos convictions de spectateurs. Quant à Lorcan Finnegan, il enferme Jesse Eisenberg dans Vivarium, huis clos fantastique nourri des angoisses des jeunes trentenaires d’aujourd’hui. D’autres cinéastes explorent la cellule familiale, véritable concentré de vie qui nous apprend aussi la mort. Litigante de Franco Lolli dresse le portrait poignant d’une femme confrontée à un moment crucial de sa vie. Dans Ceniza Negra, Sofía Quirós Ubeda insuffle du réalisme magique au récit initiatique d’une adolescente élevée par ses grands-parents. Enfin, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains de Gu Xiaogang suit le destin d’une famille chinoise qui s’écoule au rythme de la nature. 58TH SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE (CRITICS’ Week) THE JOYOUS MIX OF GENRES Cette programmation est aussi l’occasion de découvrir deux Faithful to the mission of the Critics’ Week, this 58th selection regards singuliers venus du monde arabe.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Studies Journal Historical Studies
    Historical Studies University of Colorado Denver University of Journal Spring 2017 . Volume 34 Historical StudiesHistorical Journal OCCUPATION BABIES COME OF AGE Japanese War Brides and their Children Post-World War II A Gender History HISTORIC PRESERVATION Spring 2017 Spring IN AMERICA A Brief Overview . AMERICA’S FRONTIERS 34 Volume AND BORDERLANDS A Look into Manifest Destiny and Native American Sustainability and Religion DECONSTRUCTING INTERPRETATION An Exploration of Historical Methodology and Primary Sources THE TIVOLI A Historic Preservation Marvel Historical Studies Journal Spring 2017 . Volume 34 EDITOR: Erica Fontenot, Graduate Student ASSISTANT EDITORS: Glendon Butterfield, Graduate Student Laura Hogg, Graduate Student Brittany Huner, Graduate Student Emma Lane, Graduate Student Thomas James Trump, Graduate Student Evan West, Graduate Student Thomas J. Noel, Faculty Advisor DESIGNERS: Shannon Fluckey and Kristen Morrison Integrated Marketing & Communications Auraria Higher Education Center Department of History University of Colorado Denver Kariann Yokota, Ph.D., Brandon Mills, PH.D. Department Chair 19th Century U.S. History, The United Colonial and Early U.S., Pacific Rim States and the World, Imperialism, Racial Identity Christopher Agee, Ph.D. 20th Century U.S., Urban History, Thomas J. Noel, Ph.D. Social Movements, Crime and Policing American West, Art & Architecture, Public History & Preservation, Colorado Ryan Crewe, Ph.D. Latin America, Colonial Mexico, Kelly Palmer, Ph.D. Transpacific History Modern Europe and France James E. Fell, Jr., Ph.D. Stacey Pendleton, M.A. American West, Civil War, Cold War/US, Modern Britain Environmental, Film History Carl Pletsch, Ph.D. Gabriel Finkelstein, Ph.D. Intellectual History (European and Modern Europe, Germany, American), Modern Europe History of Science, Exploration Myra Rich, Ph.D., Emerita Mark Foster, Ph.D., Emeritus U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • At Cannes, Modhura Palit Gets India Its Moment in The
    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DELHI THE HINDU 20 LIFE SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IN BRIEF At Cannes, Modhura Palit gets India its moment in the sun The young cinematographer received a special encouragement award during the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography ceremony Namrata Joshi Ms. Palit, dressed in an filmmaker Rajiv Menon, Prince in 2010, Inside Llewyn Chokri’s A Brother’s Love kerci­Porst (producer, Ger­ Cannes orange and green silk sari, is while congratulating Ms. Pa­ Davis in 2014 and Darkest and Michael Angelo Covino’s many), Lisandro Alonso (di­ India had a brief moment in the first Indian and the first lit, said that it was an honour hour in 2018). The Climb, respectively. rector, Argentina) and Lukas British, Irish climbers the sun at the Cannes Film woman to get this recogni­ to see a young Indian cine­ Meanwhile,
    [Show full text]
  • Motherhood in Science – How Children Change Our Academic Careers
    October 2020 Motherhood in Science – How children change our academic careers Experiences shared by the GYA Women in Science Working Group Nova Ahmed, Amal Amin, Shalini S. Arya, Mary Donnabelle Balela, Ghada Bassioni, Flavia Ferreira Pires, Ana M. González Ramos, Mimi Haryani Hassim, Roula Inglesi-Lotz, Mari-Vaughn V. Johnson, Sandeep Kaur-Ghumaan, Rym Kefi-Ben Atig, Seda Keskin, Sandra López-Vergès, Vanny Narita, Camila Ortolan Cervone, Milica Pešic, Anina Rich, Özge Yaka, Karin Carmit Yefet, Meron Zeleke Eresso Motherhood in Science Motherhood in Science Table of Contents Preface The modern scientist’s journey towards excellence is multidimensional and requires skills in balancing all the responsibilities consistently and in a timely Preface 3 manner. Even though progress has been achieved in recent times, when the Chapter 1: Introductory thoughts 5 academic is a “mother”, the roles toggle with different priorities involving ca- Section 1: Setting the scene of motherhood in science nowadays 8 reer, family and more. A professional mother working towards a deadline may Chapter 2: Why do we translate family and employment as competitive spheres? 8 change her role to a full-time mother once her child needs exclusive attention. Chapter 3: The “Problem that Has No Name”: giving voice to invisible Mothers-to-Be The experience of motherhood is challenging yet humbling as shared by eight- in academia 16 Chapter 4: Motherhood and science – who knew? 24 een women from the Women in Science Working Group of the Global Young Academy in this publication. Section 2: Balancing science and motherhood 29 Chapter 5: Motherhood: a journey of surprises 29 The decision of a woman to become a mother is rooted in a range of reasons Chapter 6: Following a schedule 32 Chapter 7: Motivation, persistence and harmony 35 – genetic, cultural, harmonic, societal, and others.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    Curriculum Vita ROSETTA E. ROSS, Ph.D. Spelman College 350 Spelman Lane, SW Atlanta, GA 30314 (404) 270-5527/270-5523 (fax) Education 1995 Ph.D., Religion (Religious Ethics), concentration in Christian Ethics with a focus on religion and Civil Rights activism, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. 1989 M.Div., Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. 1979 M.A., English (American Literature), with a focus on the fiction of American author Joseph Heller, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia. 1975 B.A., English, The College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina Teaching Posts 2003-present Professor of Religion, Spelman College. Associate Professor of Religion, Spelman College (2003-2011). 1999-2003 McVay Associate Professor of Ethics, United Theological Seminary. 1994-1999 Assistant Professor of Ethics, Interdenominational Theological Center. Other Experience 2008-2009 Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Howard University Divinity School. Spring, 2006 Visiting Scholar, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe. Fall, 2002 Exchange Faculty, Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota. 1996-1997 Acting Director, Black Church Studies, Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Scholarly Foci Disciplinary Studies: Religious Studies, Christian Ethics. Sub-disciplinary Topics: Ethics and Social Justice The Civil Rights Movement; Religion and Black Women’s Activism; Womanist Religious Thought; Black Women Civil Rights Activists. Black Religions and Identity Religion and African American Identity; Continental and Diasporan African Women’s Religious Identities and Engagement. Religious Studies The Academic Study of Religions; Theory and Methods in Religious Studies. Research and Publications Books and Monographs Academic African American Women in the NAACP: Religion, Social Advocacy, and Self-Regard, in preparation. Black Women and Religious Cultures, New Journal Founder and Editor, first issue, Volume 1, Issue 1, November 2020, hosted by Manifold at the University of Minnesota Press.
    [Show full text]
  • This Two-Spirit Manual Was Created out of Resources That Have Already
    1 A JOURNEY OF HEALING: TWO-SPIRIT PEOPLES JOINING THE CIRCLE HOLISTIC WELLNESS AND RESOURCE MANUAL MARCH 2009 All Nations Hope AIDS Network - March 2009 2 ALL NATIONS HOPE AIDS NETWORK (ANHAN) A Journey of Healing: Two-Spirit Peoples Joining the Circle HOLISTIC WELLNESS AND RESOURCE MANUAL FOR TWO-SPIRIT INDIVIDUALS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS The Two-Spirit Project was financed by Non-Reserve First Nation, Inuit and Métis Communities HIV/AIDS Fund. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding agencies or the All Nations Hope AIDS Network. Content compiled by Wesley Keewatin, Two-Spirit Project Coordinator Edited by Bev Cardinal, Project Consultant Regina, Saskatchewan March 2009 All Nations Hope AIDS Network - March 2009 3 DISCLAIMER Many teachings introduced in the Two-Spirit Project manual were not defined by which First Nation group gave the specific teaching. Each teaching is only a reference and each individual is invited to find his/her own identity within his/her own First Nation group. The teachings vary from nation to nation although there are similarities. These teachings were introduced to show the significance of the teachings and how they may apply today. It is very important for the individual to find his/her own First Nation’s teachings because it is in the relevance of the teachings that connections are made with our ancestral memory. It is with this connection that the healing journey begins for many Aboriginal people. This manual also relies heavily on external sources and materials. Every effort has been made to accurately identify and credit the primary sources of this information.
    [Show full text]
  • Ed 033 498 Ec 004 563
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 033 498 EC 004 563 TITLE Art Integration: A Teaching Program for the Mentally Retarded. INSTITUTION Iowa Univ., Iowa City.; Special Education Curriculum Develcpment Center, Iowa City, Iowa. Spons Agency Icwa State Dept. of Public Instruction, Des Moines. ;Office of Education (DHFW), Washington, D.C. Bureau No ER-6-2883 Pub Date Aug ES Grant OEG -3 -7- 002883 -0499 Note 83p. Available from Special Education Curriculum Development Center, W-305 East Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 52240 FDRS Price EEPS Price MF-$0.50 HC Not Available from ERRS. Descriptors *Art, Art Activities, Art Materials, *Core Curriculum, *Exceptional Child Education, Handicrafts, Instructional Materials, *Mentally Handicapped, *Teaching Methods Abstract To aid the teacher of the mentally retarded in integrating art into other subject areas, two sample projects and two five-lesson units with core activities, one on clothing and one on the state of Iowa, are presented. In addition, suggestions for teachers are listed along with the expectations of normal children and the basics of good art. Directions are given for the use of the media of clay, fingerpaint, watercolor, tempera, crayon, paper, and other materials; craft projects and ideas for core area activities are proposed. Appendixes list art materials, supply and equipment companies, and books for both teachers and children. f Not available in hard copy due to marginal legibility of original document]. (JD) V(9Ae. at eft re, ,?40 430 4f7,1 *% cfte".A., *4.0% N.P.Jia .00% ° .400 4) 4',O.,4 %0*04. 0.04.4$0.0*.#0.00..° **!;:30? 4041,40 O.,440,.
    [Show full text]
  • ENOMW AGM 2018 Report
    art by Chaïbia Talal RABAT Morocco 1-3 JUNE, 2018 ENOMW GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORT CONTENT: AGM Overview Presentations Definition of Sisterhood Film Screening & Hammam Visit New Members Workshops ENOMW Strategy 2017-2020 Our Mothers Board Rules & New Board Member Credits & Special Thanks Our 2018 General Assembly was a successful and crucial event for our network. This year we had an opportunity to get to know one another even better and break internal barriers that are inevitable for such diverse and wide-spread network as ours. This year meeting's overarching theme was solidarity & sisterhood: between countries, cultures and generations. We brought together African, Latina, Arab, Asian and European voices and the youngest of our participants celebrated her 14th birthday in Rabat. For three days, we worked - individually and collectively - on ourselves and our network's capacity to create a strong vision of the world in which women are afforded the space to generate, lead and sustain real positive change. We did this through feminist consciousness raising, critical debate, physical exercise and art. This report is a summary of activities and moments that filled this meeting in Rabat with reflections, laughter, tears and most beautiful memories...Thank you everyone who made this possible ! "We should always strive to identify leaders among migrant women. We should support them and encourage to be active not only in their communities but wider political life. A lot of these leaders are here with us in the network. We should not be afraid to put ourselves forward, be nominated, run for positions of power...even if we don't succeed it is important to be role models and send a message to other migrant women that our leadership is possible.." ENOMW PRESIDENT Salome Mbugua, AGM Welcome speech D E F I N I T I O N O F S I S T E R H O O D Sisterhood is not friendship It’s a woman akin Related to you by the pain you’ve been in.
    [Show full text]
  • Live Auction
    Live Auction 1 Four Tickets to the Christmas Revels In celebration of the Winter solstice, the Washington Revels presents its 36th annual celebration of traditional and ritual carols, dances, processionals and drama at the Lisner Auditorium on December 8th at 2:00 or 7:30 pm; 14th at 7:30 pm; 15th at 7:30 pm; or 16th at 5:30 pm. The certificate is valid for four lower tier tickets. You must validate certificate by November 15. Instructions are on the certificate Washington Revels 2 Weekend Get Away at the Scarlet Tanager Weekend retreat in West Virginia, near Berkeley Springs. Two bedroom house, situated in wooded area, pollinator + organic veggie garden, great for birdwatching, hiking, and relaxing. You can pick 2-3 days anytime of the year, except December - end of March. Rick Lohmeyer & Chris Graham 3 Wine Tasting Party Enjoy an evening filled with friends and flowing wine. Paul's Wine and Spirits has offered an in-home wine tasting for up to 20 people for a unique evening of wine tasting. You provide the home, nibbles and friends. They'll bring the wine! Paul's Wine and Spirits 4 A Week in North Ocean City. Park your car and spend a week in my two-bedroom waterfront mobile home on a navigable canal in North Ocean City. The dock is available for a boat. Walk to beach, shops, restaurants. Sleeps up to six with sleeper sofa. Book this early to get the week you want! Jeff Smith 5 Shakespeare Theatre Tickets Two premiere seats to any production at Washington D.C.'s world-renowned Shakespeare Theatre Company this season.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Notes Introduction 1. Katie G. Cannon, “The Emergence of Black Feminist Consciousness,” in Feminist Interpretation of the Bible, ed. Letty M. Russell (Louisville, KY: Westminster Press, 1985); Renita J. Weems, Just a Sister Away: Understanding the Timeless Connection between Women of Today and Women in the Bible (West Bloomfield, M: Walk Worthy Press, 1988); Jacquelyn Grant, White Women’s Christ and Black Women’s Jesus: Feminist Christology and Womanist Response (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989); and Delores S. Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk (New York: Orbis Books, 1993). 2. This date marks the publication of Katie G. Cannon’s essay, “The Emergence of Black Feminist Consciousness” first published in Letty M. Russell, ed., Feminist Interpretation of the Bible (Louisville, KY: Westminster Press, 1985), 30–40. 3. Grant, White Women’s Christ and Black Women’s Jesus, 209. 4. For more on first-wave womanist perspectives on Christian categories, includ- ing sacrifice, servanthood, and unmerited suffering, see Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness; Grant, White Women’s Christ and Black Women’s Jesus; and Weems, Just a Sister Away. 5. In addition to these fields, womanism critically engages a variety of disci- plines and theological perspectives by helping to expose ways in which racist- classist-sexist-heterosexist and other oppressive norms may operate within the approaches, methods, and studies of various perspectives within religion. 6. For more information on the argument of this sort, see Katie G. Cannon, Black Womanist Ethics (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988). 7. Contrary to the attitudes of some white feminists who saw themselves as “sep- aratists” and noninclusive of men, Walker’s term “womanist” suggests that including black men in the movement of affirming black women is essential.
    [Show full text]
  • Form Vision Hans Theys
    Form Vision Hans Theys Form Vision Artists on Art Tornado Editions 2019 To Tamara Van San In 1983, a fellow student handed me this Banda copy, suggesting it might be interesting for me – as an aficionado of art and literature – to study the writings of Kafka without interpreting them. The origin of the book you are holding now lies within this generous gesture. Thirty years later, when I accidently rediscovered it, I realised that the text quotes a book by Susan Sontag, translated and typewritten by an unknown hand. Everyone has a sort of individual form vision. In all the greatest artists the seeds of this form vision has been present even in their early work, and to some extent their work has been a gradual unfolding of this rhythm throughout. (…) It’s something the artist can’t control – it’s his make up. (…) The less conscious you are of your own individual form rhythm, the more likely it is, I think, to get richer and fuller and develop. Henry Moore, 1941 What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to see more, to hear more, to feel more. Our task is not to find the maximum amount of content in a work of art, much less to squeeze more content out of the work than is already there. Our task is to cut back content so that we can see the thing at all. (…) The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.
    [Show full text]