Ain't I a Womanist, Too?: Third Wave Womanist Religious Thought

by Monica A. Coleman (Editor), Layli Maparyan (Editor)

Third wave womanism is a new movement within religious studies with deep roots in the tradition of womanist religious thought--while also departing from it in key ways. After a helpful and orienting introduction, this volume gathers essays from established and emerging scholars whose work is among the most lively and innovative scholarship today. The result is a lively conversation in which to question is not to disavow; to depart is not necessarily to reject and where questioning and departing are indications of the productive growth and expansion of an important academic and religious movement.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction, Race, Feminism

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Dr. Monica A. Coleman is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. She spent over ten years in graduate theological education at Claremont School of Theology, the Center for Process Studies and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Coleman has earned degrees from Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and Claremont Graduate University. She has received funding from leading foundations in the United States, including the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation), among others.

Answering her call to ministry at 19 years of age, Coleman is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and an initiate in traditional Yoruba religion.

Dr. Coleman brings her experiences in evangelical Christianity, black church traditions, global ecumenical work, and indigenous spirituality to her discussions of theology and religion.

Dr. Coleman is the author or editor of six books, and several articles and book chapters that focus on the role of faith in addressing critical social and philosophical issues. Her memoir "Bipolar Faith" shares her life-long dance with trauma and depression, and how she discovers a new and liberating vision of God.

Her book "Making a Way Out of No Way" is required reading at leading theological schools around the country, and listed on the popular #BlackWomenSyllabus and #LemonadeSyllabus recommended reading projects.

Dr. Coleman is the co-host (along with writer Tananarive Due) of the popular webinar series "Octavia Tried to Tell Us: Parable for Today’s Pandemic," addressing today’s most pressing issues with insights from Afrofuturist literature, process theology and community values

Dr. Coleman’s strength comes from the depth of her knowledge base and from her experiences as a community organizer, survivor of sexual violence and as an individual who lives with a mental health challenges.

Coleman speaks widely on mental wellness, navigating change, religious diversity, and religious responses to intimate partner violence. Coleman is based in Wilmington, Delaware, and lives in an intergenerational household where she is an avid vegan cook and cyclist.

Reviews

[Elisa Romagnoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

As womanist thought flourishes under the hands of its caretakers it expands in its meanings and its application for persons reading, writing and utilizing it. In ‘Ain’t I a Womanist, Too?’ Coleman ponders what it meant to be a womanist through the question ‘ain’t I a Womanist, Too?’ and how the meaning is changing. She then brings in various thinkers and writers who expand on what womanism means to them, their communities and the wider world.

The books holds within it an eclectic variety of essays that discuss, deconstruct and reconstruct topics from modern Muslim plural marriage to being a bitch (what it means and reclamation within black Christian spaces) to rap and house music.

This book took a little longer to read than I thought it would as some essays were easier to understand or read than others but I enjoyed the variety of contemplation that I saw within the book and the contemplations it has fostered within me. It was interesting to note the similarities between ‘queering’ theory and thought, and womanist thought as well as their differences in handling subjects and advancing discourse.

Highly recommend so long as you have prior understanding of or knowledge within womanism in particular.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays here run the gamut from dense theory to personal reflection... from pedagogy and epistemology to how Michelle Obama constructs new mythic narrative with her public use of fashion, and how black gay men theologize on dance floors. All the writings grapple with a rich history and a complex present context, to unpack what it means to build and teach womanist values, especially in the context of intersectionality.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like sketch shows, essay anthologies can feel hit-and-miss because of sharp variations in tone and content. This is no exception, although the misses aren't so much failures as not grabbing my interest. For me the best essays were those on Chinese religion, house music, and pedagogy, but I think there'd be something for everyone here.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although thought-provoking, I didn't agree with the organization of the anthology. I did enjoy a number of the selections, but had a hard time pinning down any cohesive themes across the anthology.