Africana Womanism in essence says: We love men. We like being women. We love children. We like being mothers. We value life. We have faith in God and the Bible. We want families and harmonious relationships. We are not at war with our men seeking money, power and influence through confrontation. Our history is unique. We are the inheritors of African-American women's history, and as such we shall not redefine ourselves nor that history to meet some politically correct image of a popular culture movement, which demands the right to speak for and redefine the morals and mores of all racial, cultural and ethnic groups. Nor shall we allow the history to be "shanghied" to legitimatize the "global political agenda" of others. We reject the status of victim. Indeed, we are victors, Sisters in Charge of our own destiny. We are Africana culture-keepers: Our primary obligation is to the progress of our cultural way of life through the stability of family and the commitment to community. The practice of cultural womanism is not limited to Africana women. Italian, Japanese, Hispanic, East Indian, Arab, Jewish women, etc., all utilize this approach to decision-making, and know the value of maintaining indigenous cultural autonomy. The rite of passing generation-to-generation knowledge free from outside manipulation, coercion or intimidation insures traditional integrity, which fosters a climate of cultural security. Traditional cultures should not be obligated to bow to redefinitions foisted upon them by elitist entities that gain their authority via the drive of well-organized "media hype."[21]
Africana Womanism Reclaiming Ourselves Pdf 14
How do we begin? First we classicists have to move away from the notion ofdiscipline. We speak of the discipline of classics; it evokes an image of narrowboundaries and rigid inflexibility and exclusion. The discipline of classics purportsto study the ancient world, yet, in fact, only studies Greece and Rome . ButGreece and Rome were not the only cultures in the ancient world . We need tothink of classics in terms of ethnic studies and leave ourselves open to allpossibilities. Likewise, feminists, whether Black or White, need to rethink thepreference for theory over thought (Christian 1988; Lugones and Spelman 1983).Central to this relearning and to my foregoing interpretation of ancient Egypt isthe acknowledgement of different standpoints. The standpoint of Black womenand its validity is in fact fundamental to Black feminist thought and forms; alongwith reclaiming our foremothers, it is the core of this ideology (Collins 1990: 2ff7e9595c
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