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Radical Spiritual Motherhood

Author: Rosetta R. Haynes

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0807146935

In this cutting-edge work, Rosetta R. Haynes explores the spiritual autobiographies of five nineteenth-century female African American itinerant preachers to discover the ways in which they drew upon religion and the material conditions of their lives to fashion powerful personas that enabled them to pursue their missions as divinely appointed religious leaders. Haynes examines the lives and narratives of Jarena Lee (1783--?), Zilpha Elaw (c. 1790--?), Julia Foote (1823--1900), Amanda Berry Smith (1837--1915), and Rebecca Cox Jackson (1795--1871) through an innovative conceptual framework Haynes terms "radical spiritual motherhood" -- an empowering identity deriving from the experience of "sanctification," a kind of spiritual perfection following conversion. Drawing upon conventional nineteenth-century standards for motherhood, radical spiritual motherhood also challenges traditional standards: These were women whose religious missions authorized them to preach in public, to assume an activist role, and to declare sexual autonomy through celibacy. They redefined their relationships to the powers that be by becoming instruments of God in a kind of protofeminist gesture. Haynes uses historical methods, feminist literary theory, and liberation theology to investigate the ways these women, as reflected especially in their autobiographies, employed the idea of motherhood to fashion strong, authentic identities as women called to preach the gospel. Though radical spiritual motherhood is an identity specifically adopted by free black women, the lives and texts of these itinerant preachers retain close ties to those of enslaved black women through the negative cultural stereotypes assigned to both groups. To illustrate this connection, Haynes analyzes the writings of the preachers within the context of the narratives of former slaves Harriet Jacobs, Mary Prince, and Sojourner Truth. Haynes also links the lineage of radical spiritual motherhood to a modern woman by considering Pauli Murray (1910--1985), the first African American woman (and the second African American) to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. By looking at Murray's intellectual and spiritual development, especially her feminist ideologies, social activism, and espousal of liberation theology, Haynes shows that Murray was in fact a modern-day radical spiritual mother. Pioneering and accessible, Radical Spiritual Motherhood marks a turning point in the study of both African American literature and women's studies.

Motherhood Reconceived

Author: Lauri Umansky

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 1996-08

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 081478562X

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From the early days of second-wave feminism, motherhood and the quest for women's liberation have been inextricably linked. And yet motherhood has at times been viewed, by anti-feminists and select feminists alike, as somehow at odds with feminism. In reality, feminists have long treated motherhood as an organizing metaphor for women's needs and advancement. The mother has been regarded with suspicion at times, deified at others, but never ignored.The first book devoted to this complex relationship, Motherhood Reconceived examines in depth how the realities of motherhood have influenced feminist thought. Bringing to life the work of a variety of feminist writers and theorists, among them Jane Alpert, Mary Daly, Susan Griffin, Adrienne Rich, and Dorothy Dinnerstein, Umansky situates feminist discourses of motherhood within the social and political contexts of the 1960s. Charting an increasingly favorable view of motherhood among feminists from the late 1960s through the 1980s, Umansky reveals how African American feminists sought to redefine black nationalist discourses of motherhood, a reworking subsequently adopted by white radical and socialist feminists seeking to broaden the racial base of their movement. Noting the cultural left's conflicted relationship to feminism, that is, the concurrent demand for individual sexual liberation and the desire for community, Umansky traces that legacy through various stages of feminist concern about motherhood: early critiques of the nuclear family, tempered by strong support for day care; an endorsement of natural childbirth by the women's health movement of the early 1970s; white feminists' attempt to forge a multiracial movement by declaring motherhood a universal bond; and the emergence of psychoanalytic feminism, ecofeminism, spiritual feminism, and the feminist anti- pornography movement.

The Radical Mothers Voice

Author: Sherry Milam

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13:

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Anarchist mama Sherry and her contributors (some of whom are working class, lesbian, and/or anarchist) talk about motherhood and activism and how mothers are oppressed by the same systems that oppress all women, but to an even greater degree. Volume two includes an article about the baby product and advice industry, an "Open Letter to Non-Breeders" about how the concept overpopulation is a political manipulation, a Q & A section that answers questions about violent war toys, a piece about lesbian parenting, an article about reclaiming the power of motherhood, and a description of the Cricket Farm collective of activist mothers in Texas.

Essential Labor

Author: Angela Garbes

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2022-05-10

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 0062937383

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the acclaimed author of Like a Mother comes a reflection on the state of caregiving in America, and an exploration of mothering as a means of social change. The Covid-19 pandemic shed fresh light on a long-overlooked truth: mothering is among the only essential work humans do. In response to the increasing weight placed on mothers and caregivers—and the lack of a social safety net to support them—writer Angela Garbes found herself pondering a vital question: How, under our current circumstances that leave us lonely, exhausted, and financially strained, might we demand more from American family life? In Essential Labor, Garbes explores assumptions about care, work, and deservedness, offering a deeply personal and rigorously reported look at what mothering is, and can be. A first-generation Filipino-American, Garbes shares the perspective of her family's complicated relationship to care work, placing mothering in a global context—the invisible economic engine that has been historically demanded of women of color. Garbes contends that while the labor of raising children is devalued in America, the act of mothering offers the radical potential to create a more equitable society. In Essential Labor, Garbes reframes the physically and mentally draining work of meeting a child's bodily and emotional needs as opportunities to find meaning, to nurture a deeper sense of self, pleasure, and belonging. This is highly skilled labor, work that impacts society at its most foundational level. Part galvanizing manifesto, part poignant narrative, Essential Labor is a beautifully rendered reflection on care that reminds us of the irrefutable power and beauty of mothering.

Earth, Body, and Spirit

Author: Kiana Kawamura

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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Ana Castillo's novel So Far From God (1993) tells the story of Sofi and her four daughters, Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and La Loca, as they grow up in Tome, a small town in rural New Mexico. Through a thorough analysis of Sofi as a mother, my thesis proposes the concept of radical motherhood to understand the complex relationship between motherhood and activism, spirituality, and female empowerment developed in Castillo's novel. Specifically, my analysis demonstrates how la Virgen de Guadalupe, an idealized mother figure in Chicano culture, and la Llorona, a mythologized bad mother, come together in Sofi's character to catalyze her process of conscientización, or increasing social awareness. I argue that Sofi's conscientización stems directly from her understanding of each of her daughters' experiences with environmental injustice, subversive spirituality, and, ultimately death. By closely examining the lives of Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and La Loca, I emphasize how Sofi is radicalized through her relationships with her children. Overall, my thesis illustrates how Sofi rebels against traditional maternal expectations of obedience and silence to protect and fight for the rights of her daughters. In this way, motherhood represents a path to liberation for Sofi, allowing her to move away from the oppressive, patriarchal, and capitalistic social structures that confront her as a Chicana woman.

Motherhood Redeemed

Author: Kimberly Cook

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-13

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9781505116489

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The journey of popular podcaster Kimberly Cook was that of many directionless young women in recent decades. Unfortunately, her family fell away from the Catholic Church right before her critical high school years. Having been stripped of any healthy spiritual resources upon which to rely just when she needed them most, she quickly fell in with several outcasts, one of whom was a self-proclaimed "feminist." She had never really heard the term before, but "liked the anti-conformist confidence that her new friend exuded among the crowd of kids stepping over one another to fit in." In her words, "feminism opened a whole new world for me and led me down a twisted path that would eventually find me shrieking political rhetoric from stages across the country." Happily, God intervened. Returning to the Church in her early twenties, she struggled to let go of the feminist ideals that had been engrained in her - especially the disdain for motherhood. "As much as I came to fully understand (in my head) that motherhood was a good and worthy vocation, I just couldn't get it into my heart." In fact, it took numerous years, but eventually, she came to embrace the vocation of marriage and motherhood and came to understand how very wrongheaded and destructive feminism is. Motherhood Redeemed is a book that challenges feminism in the modern world, with the remainder of the simple truth that all women are called to be mothers in one way or another

Radical Spiritual Motherhood

Author: Rosetta R. Haynes

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780807138205

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Liberating Motherhood

Author: Vanessa Olorenshaw

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9781910559192

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Highly acclaimed by leading parenting authors, academics and activists, with a foreword from Naomi Stadlen, founder of Mothers Talking and author of What Mothers Do, and How Mothers Love. If it is true that there have been waves of feminism, then mothers' rights are the flotsam left behind on the ocean surface of patriarchy. For all the talk of women's liberation, when it is predicated on liberation from motherhood, it is no liberation at all. Under twenty-first century capitalism, the bonds of motherhood are being replaced with binds to the market within wage slavery and ruthless individualism. Mothers are in bondage - and not in a 50 Shades way. Olorenshaw is clear: When mothering is on our terms, it can be liberating. The time has come for a radical, bold and creative approach to the question of mothers, children and care. Liberating Motherhood discusses our bodies, our minds, our labour and our hearts, exploring issues from birth and breastfeeding to mental health, economics, politics, basic incomes and love and in doing so, broaches a conversation we've been avoiding for years: how do we value motherhood?