Download or read book Recovering the African Feminine Divine in Literature the Arts and Practice written by LaJuan Simpson-Wilkey and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-12-04 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recovering the African Feminine Divine in Literature, the Arts, and Performing Arts: Yemonja Awakening provides context to the myriad ways in which the African feminine divine is being reclaimed by scholars, practitioners and cultural scholars worldwide. This volume addresses the complex ways in which the reclamation of and recognition of Yemonja facilitates cultural survival and the formation of African -centric identity. These cultural practices are symbolically represented by Yemonja, the African female deity who is the mother of the entire world of the Orisha. Also known as Yemaya, Iemanya and Yemaya-Olokun, Yemonja is the deity whose province is the ocean and, given that the Middle Passage was the cultural and spatial crossroad to Africa’s numerous diasporas, this deity links the shared histories of African and African –descent cultural praxis worldwide. Since Yemonja also references sexual, creative, spatial and spiritual energies, the editors and contributors see her as pivotal to this project as an expansive and original cartography of impact of the African feminine divine globally. This work provides the context for understanding how the spiritual conceptualizations of the African feminine divine underpin critical cultural forms, even when it has been previously unacknowledged and despite the cultural encounters with European and Western models of being. Scholars of African diaspora studies and the arts will find this book particularly interesting.

Download or read book Voyages in Postcolonial African Theatre Practice written by Charles Nwadigwe and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2024-03-25 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voyages in Postcolonial African Theatre Practice goes beyond the predictable academic discursive trips on postcolonial drama and theatre practice. In 14 unique but interrelated essays, this volume dissects the critical issues that envelop the practice of theatre in postcolonial Africa and the African Diaspora, and how practitioners engage with the trends which arise. The volume departs from the conventional theoretical constructs of humanistic studies and focuses on concrete realities that interface and interfere with the professional practice of African theatre, a creative industry confined by the historical and dialectical motifs of the colonial experience. Topics such as secondary adaptations, theatre training and pedagogy, censorship and performance politics, applied theatre, cultural policy and tourism, scenography, festivals and oral tradition, dance internationalisation, popular music, text and the African film reflect the broad coverage and diversity of this volume on African postcolonial theatre practices, from text to performance, planning to production.

Download or read book Teaching Literature and Writing in Prisons written by Sheila Smith McKoy and published by Modern Language Association. This book was released on 2023-10-13 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the work of Malcolm X, Angela Y. Davis, and others has made clear, education in prison has enabled people to rethink systems of oppression. Courses in reading and writing help incarcerated students feel a sense of community, examine the past and present, and imagine a better future. Yet incarcerated students often lack the resources, materials, information, and opportunity to pursue their coursework, and training is not always available for those who teach incarcerated students. This volume will aid both new and experienced instructors by providing strategies for developing courses, for creating supportive learning environments, and for presenting and publishing incarcerated students' scholarly and creative work. It also suggests approaches to self-care designed to help instructors sustain their work. Essays incorporate the perspectives of both incarcerated and nonincarcerated teachers and students, centering critical prison studies scholarship and abolitionist perspectives. This volume contains discussion of Mumia Abu-Jamal's Live from Death Row, Marita Bonner's The Purple Flower, Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Othello.

Download or read book Philosophy and the Modern African American Freedom Struggle written by Anthony Sean Neal and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-07-20 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy and the Modern African American Freedom Struggle: A Freedom Gaze describes the ideas that defined the movement and struggle to be free by Black people in the United States during their Modern Era. Using a historical perspective, this work engages the question of how the historical experience of oppression and the denial of humanity created space for the development of a certain consciousness. The existence and demonstration of agency within the ideas of the African diaspora and the creation of an intentional community with the aim of defining and attaining freedom are dissected in order to understand the Black community as a whole during the modern era. This book was nominated for ​the 2023 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in nonfiction.

Download or read book Octavia E Butler written by Mary Ellen Snodgrass and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-01-04 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Slow to rise in the literary world, Octavia Estelle Butler cultivated musings on earth's future, reaching massive critical acclaim in the process. This companion will complement book club discussions and classroom lessons for the closest possible readings of Butler's science fiction and her texts on racism and pollution. A maven of speculative fiction so prescient that it hovers between tocsin and prophecy, Butler survives through her print stories, essays, novels and musings on individualism and compromise. This book guides the reader on a variety of Butler pieces, from her most obscure titles to her historical entries and pieces that speculate upon science, metaphysics, linguistics, psychology, writing and religion. The text serves as a guide through the depths of Octavia Butler's works and reinforces the reasons for which her name so often appears on reading lists for higher learning.

Download or read book Health Parenting and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood written by Tasha L. Alston and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-09-11 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From slavery to present day, the narratives of Black fatherhood have been fraught with biases and stereotypes, failing to accurately capture the voices and lived experiences of Black fathers. Contrary to these narratives, Black fathers play an important role in the lives of their children and families. Health, Parenting, and Community Perspectives on Black Fatherhood: Defying Stereotypes and Amplifying Strengths, edited by Tasha L. Alston, Brianna P. Lemmons, and Latrice S. Rollins, celebrates Black fatherhood and highlights the ways Black men defy stereotypes and embrace their role as fathers with unwavering resilience. Drawing on the expertise of well-regarded experts in the field and using a strengths-based perspective, this comprehensive book provides insight into the experiences of Black fathers in three key areas: health, parenting, and community. The contributors explore the salience of the co-parenting relationship for Black fathers, community-based participatory research with Black fathers, the Black father-daughter relationship, the male in-law relationship in Black families, support systems for Black fathers parenting autistic children, and more. This volume is an essential resource for scholars in social work, psychology, sociology, child development, allied health, and similar disciplines and professions.

Download or read book Afro and Indigenous Intersectionality in America as Nomen written by Larry L. W. Miles and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-03-06 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afro and Indigenous Intersectionality in America as Nomen broadens the historical narrative of Indigenous, Autochthonous, and First World people who have been classified historically as Negro, Black, Colored, Afro, and African American. By addressing the ways in which the singular narrative of "slavery" codifies identity, this work moves beyond binary racial classifications and proposes the possibility of utilizing holistic historical narratives to foster group and personal identity.

Download or read book The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible written by Vlad Petre Glăveanu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-25 with total page 1812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible represents a comprehensive resource for researchers and practitioners interested in an emerging multidisciplinary area within psychology and the social sciences: the study of how we engage with and cultivate the possible within self, society and culture. Far from being opposed either to the actual or the real, the possible engages with concrete facts and experiences, with the result of transforming them. This encyclopedia examines the notion of the possible and the concepts associated with it from standpoints within psychology, philosophy, sociology, neuroscience and logic, as well as multidisciplinary fields of research including anticipation studies, future studies, complexity theory and creativity research. Presenting multiple perspectives on the possible, the authors consider the distinct social, cultural and psychological processes - e.g., imagination, counterfactual thinking, wonder, play, inspiration, and many others - that define our engagement with new possibilities in domains as diverse as the arts, design and business.

Download or read book The Specter and the Speculative written by Mae G. Henderson and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-31 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Specter and the Speculative: Afterlives and Archives in the African Diaspora engages in a critical conversation about how historical subjects and historical texts within the African Diaspora are re-fashioned, re-animated, and re-articulated, as well as parodied, nostalgized, and defamiliarized, to establish an “afterlife” for African Atlantic identities and narratives. These essays focus on transnational, transdisciplinary, and transhistorical sites of memory and haunting—textual, visual, and embodied performances—in order to examine how these “living” archives circulate and imagine anew the meanings of prior narratives liberated from their original context. Individual essays examine how historical and literary performances—in addition to film, drama, music, dance, and material culture—thus revitalized, transcend and speak across temporal and spatial boundaries not only to reinstate traditional meanings, but also to motivate fresh commentary and critique. Emergent and established scholars representing diverse disciplines and fields of interest specifically engage under explored themes related to afterlives, archives, and haunting.

Download or read book Race and the Unconscious written by Fanny Brewster and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Race and the Unconscious engages the archetypal African consciousness that enriches our knowledge regarding the foundational mythopoetic of Africanist dreaming. Featuring crucial historical context, Jungian and post-Jungian theory, clinical case studies, and dream series interpretations, the book offers readers a rich framework for exploring and understanding the language, images, and symbols of African and African American dreamlife. It expands the modern understanding of dreaming with the inclusion of Africanist perspectives, philosophy, and mythology while emphasizing the potential for and process of psychological healing through dreamwork. Race and the Unconscious is a must-read for Jungian analysts and analytical psychologists in practice and in training, as well as anyone interested in understanding psychological processes inclusive of those of African descent and their culture, including academics and students of sociology, anthropology, African American studies, and African diaspora studies.

Download or read book The Bones Beneath written by Sheila Smith McKoy and published by . This book was released on 2023-07-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The poems in The Bones Beneath are rooted in two worlds: the world of lived experience and otherworldly places of dreams and incantations. This collection affirms the importance of art of social change, the urgency of justice, and connection.

Download or read book Re creating Ourselves written by Molara Ogundipe-Leslie and published by Africa World Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book falls into two parts: the first part, theory, comprising theoretical essays on literature, women and society, leads into the second part, practice, which presents Ogundipe-Leslie's work as a social activist. Both parts are linked by her poetry.

Download or read book African Literature Mother Earth and Religion written by Enna Sukutai Gudhlanga and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of essays that explore the intersection of Earth, Gender and Religion in African literary texts. It examines cultural, religious, theological and philosophical traditions, and their construction of perspectives and attitudes about Earth-keeping and gender. This publication is critical given the current global environmental crisis and its impact on African and global communities. The book is multidisciplinary in approach (literary, environmental, theological and sociological), exploring the intersection of African creative work, religion and the environment in their construction of Earth and gender. It presents how the gendered interconnectedness of the natural environment, with its broad spirituality and deep identification with the woman, features prominently in the myths, folklores, legends, rituals, sacred songs and incantations that are explored in this collection. Both male and female writers in the collection laud and accept woman’s enduring motif as worker, symbol and guardian of the environment. This interconnectedness mirrors the importance of the environment for the survival of both human and non-human components of Mother Earth. The ideology of women’s agency is emphasised and reinforced by ecofeminist theologians; namely those viewing African women as active agents working closely with the environment and not as subordinates. In the context of the environmental crisis the nurturing role of women should be bolstered and the rich African traditions that conserved the environment preserved. The book advocates the re-engagement of women, particularly their knowledge and conservation techniques and how these can become reservoirs of dying traditions. This volume offers recorded traditions in African literary texts, thereby connecting gender, religion and the environment and helpful perspectives in Earth-keeping.

Download or read book African Goddess Initiation written by Abiola Abrams and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sacred feminine initiation of self-love and soul care rituals, tools, and exercises. Spiritual teacher, intuitive coach, and award-winning author, Abiola Abrams invites you to activate African goddess magic to transmute your fears and limiting beliefs, so that you can create more happiness, abundance, and self-acceptance. Africa is a continent of 54+ countries, and her children are global. There is no one African spiritual tradition. Our ancestors who were trafficked in "The New World" hid the secrets of our orishas, abosom, lwas, álúsí, and god/desses behind saints, angels, and legendary characters. From South Africa to Egypt, Brazil to Haiti, Guyana to Louisiana, goddess wisdom still empowers us. Writes Abiola, "Spirit told me, "We choose who shows up." And if you are holding this book, then this sacred medicine is meant for you. In this book, you will meet ancient goddesses and divine feminine energy ancestors, legendary queens, and mystical spirits. As you complete their powerful rituals, and ascend through their temples, you will: . Awaken generational healing in the Temple of Ancestors; . Manifest your miracles in the Temple of Conjurers; . Release the struggle in the Temple of Warriors; . Embrace your dark goddess self in the Temple of Shadows; . Heal your primal wounds in the Temple of Lovers; . Liberate your voice in the Temple of Griots; . Open your third eye intuition in the Temple of Queens; and . Surrender, meditate, and rise in the Temple of High Priestesses. Welcome to your goddess circle!

Download or read book Spirit Deep written by Tisha M. Brooks and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2023-03-24 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would it mean for American and African American literary studies if readers took the spirituality and travel of Black women seriously? With Spirit Deep: Recovering the Sacred in Black Women’s Travel, Tisha Brooks addresses this question by focusing on three nineteenth-century Black women writers who merged the spiritual and travel narrative genres: Zilpha Elaw, Amanda Smith, and Nancy Prince. Brooks hereby challenges the divides between religious and literary studies, and between coerced and "free" passages within travel writing studies to reveal meaningful new connections in Black women’s writings. Bringing together both sacred and secular texts, Spirit Deep uncovers an enduring spiritual legacy of movement and power that Black women have claimed for themselves in opposition to the single story of the Black (female) body as captive, monstrous, and strange. Spirit Deep thus addresses the marginalization of Black women from larger conversations about travel writing, demonstrating the continuing impact of their spirituality and movements in our present world.

Download or read book Reclaiming the African Goddess written by Yema Njolela and published by Hay House UK Limited. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful guide to healing from trauma and cultivating a positive relationship with spirituality for People of African Descent, exploring the Divine, the Feminine, and the Melanin. A call to People of African Descent to heal historical trauma, honor their Ancestors, reclaim their cultural heritage, and reconnect with their spiritual roots and practices. Globally, humanity has been experiencing a massive shift in consciousness. Many people are restless, looking for ways to live more authentically and embrace our innate spirituality. Psychotherapist Yema Njolela reflects that for people of African descent, this is manifesting as a desire to return to our historical, cultural, and spiritual roots. This is a time for the collective healing of African people. This powerful book explores the fear and rejection of African spirituality as a specific form of trauma and reveals why and how this must be healed. Alongside this, Yema focuses on helping people of African descent to heal from the collective historical trauma linked to the slave trade and discrimination throughout history. Reclaiming the African Goddess will guide you through the process of healing through the frame of three elements that have historically been suppressed through colonization: the Divine, the Feminine, and the Melanin. Covering aspects such as spirituality, beauty and hair, and sexuality, Yema delves into what it means to be a Person of African Descent who is rekindling their relationship with the Divine. Yema invites you to embrace African spirituality and embark on your own journey of healing, self-discovery, and harmony.

Download or read book Melanin Magic written by Nya Love and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-12-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Step into a world where your melanin becomes a source of power and enlightenment. Imagine embracing the Divine Feminine within you, connecting with ancient African practices, and reclaiming your true essence. In this captivating guide, you will embark on a transformative journey that celebrates the sacredness of being a Black Woman. Imagine you find yourself surrounded by the wisdom of the Yoruba religions, Ifá, Santería, and Vodun. The vibrant energy of the Orishas and Goddesses ignites a fire within you, allowing you to tap into your divine divination abilities. Through rituals, ancestral connections, and the harmonizing power of nature, you will discover the true magic that lies within your melanin. As you turn the pages, you will uncover the hidden practices that have been passed down through generations of Black Women. From embracing the cycles of the moon to harnessing the energy of fire, you will learn how to activate the dormant power within you. This book invites you to reclaim your mental health, confidence, and overall well-being while embracing the sacred feminine energy that flows through your veins. Embrace the Divine Feminine within African religions Connect with ancestors and spirit guides through divination and rituals Tap into the power of the Orishas and Goddesses Reclaim your mental health, confidence, and overall well-being Honor the sacredness of your melanin through self-love and self-care Harness the energy of the elements and lunar cycles for manifestation Embrace your sacred sexuality and the role of the Cosmic Black Mother Incorporate rituals and practices that align with the seasons and chakra system Unleash the limitless potential of your Melanin Magic and awaken the true essence of your being. Embrace the ancient practices of African spirituality, reclaim your power, and step into a world where your melanin shines brighter than ever before. Are you ready to embark on this transformative journey? Start reading Melanin Magic today and unlock the mystical secrets that await you.