Opening Channels to our Knowing
*reposted from Wednesday, October 20th*. Glitches happen!
*Apologies, friends! This week’s letter seemed to only reach a portion of our subscribers. This is a resend to everyone. Happy Friday and I’ll be glad to hear thoughts from you!*
What’s on our minds
so how do you know that you know that you know that you know?
From womanish. (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e., frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “you acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous, or willful behavior. Wanting to know more and in great depth than is considered “good” for one. Interested in grown up doings. Acting grown up. Being grown up. Interchangeable with another black folk expression: “You trying to be grown.” Responsible. In charge. Serious.
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens by Alice Walker (1983)
“You can’t get free from what you don’t know!”, said Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, as I take the role of student in one of her courses - African American Social Ethics - this semester. The conversation began around understanding the core of womanist ethics in our shaping as budding theologians. I've been fangirling (yes friend, fangirling, with no shame) of her, Dr. Emilie Townes, Dr. Renita Weems, and many of our Womanist ethicists (most notably Dr. Katie G. Cannon), theologians, and scholars for some time now. And, my introduction to their work shows me a reoccurring theme of tapping into our knowing and making sense of what is happening in our inward sanctuary.
This Knowing, you know, the Knowing that helps you know what you know that you know that you know (full breath!), is realized in one of the four key womanist tenets of ethics - radical subjectivity.
Brought to life by Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, radical subjectivity is a way to
Actualize agency and a subjective [personal] view of the world/self for Black women, rather than see themselves as victims of circumstance. It gives Black women a sense of identity that goes beyond racist, sexist, classist categories they are often unwillingly ascribed to.
Mining the Motherlode - Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas (2006)
It is, like our grounding principle of womanism (check back at the top!), an insistence to know and find out for herself/themself what is. Radical subjectivity is the practice of Black women taking back their identity by telling their truth, rewriting their stories, and reclaiming their full selves. Radical subjectivity is where the embodiment of womanism begins.
It is a faithful search in understanding.
Day by day.
Moment by moment.
Thought by thought.
Being by doing. Doing by being.
What’s next
Whether you open this letter in the late hours of the evening or in the bright hours of the day, I’m inviting you to take a few minutes to tap into your Knowing. Tuning within. What do you feel or hear in your meditations/prayer/reflective space? What have the often silenced parts of you been trying to say? How will you lean into your truth? What truth is trying to emerge from within you? Who do you know you are?
Ashe & Amen on the start of your knowing.
What’s on our shelves
Mining the Motherlode - Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas
Black Womanist Ethics - Dr. Katie G. Cannon
A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing - Dr. DaMaris B. Hill
Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil - Dr. Emilie Townes
What’s upcoming
In our next issue, we’re welcoming a guest writer who’s taking over for the month with their work! Stay tuned to find out who they are, what they’re up to, and what they have in store for TCW.