Solidarity and defiant spirituality : Africana lessons on religion, racism, and ending gender violence / Traci C. West.

Solidarity and defiant spirituality : Africana lessons on religion, racism, and ending gender violence / Traci C. West.

9781479833993 (paperback)
1479833991 (paperback)
9781479849031 (hardcover)
1479849030 (hardcover)

New York : New York University Press, [2019]

English

vii, 313 pages ; 23 cm.

BT736.15 .W475 2019

362.82/92

The United States has consistently positioned itself as a moral exemplar, seeking to export its philosophy and values to other societies. Yet in this book. Traci C. West argues that the U.S. has much to learn from other countries when it comes to addressing gender-based violence. With a transnational focus on religion and racism, West brings a new perspective on culturally uprooting violence against women and girls. West traveled to Ghana, Brazil, and South Africa to interview activists involved in the struggle against this violence. In each of these places, as in the United States, Christianity and anti-black racism have been implicated in gender violence. In Ghana and Brazil, in particular, Christian colonial and trans-Atlantic slave trade histories directly connect with the socioeconomic development of the Americas and the rape of black slave women. Calling attention to current violence in the U.S. and elsewhere that includes marital rape, sex trafficking, domestic violence, and the targeting of lesbians, the book offers and expansive and nuanced view of how to promote activist solidarity in tackling this violence. It features bold and inspiring approaches by black women leaders and riveting narratives about West's encounters with them. Ultimately, West calls for us to learn from the lessons of Africana activists, drawing on a defiant Africana spirituaity as an invaluable resource in the quest to stop the seemingly chronic problem of gender-based violence.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Religion and social transformation.

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