THE WOMANIST READER (Routledge, 2006) is the first book dedicated to womanism on its own. Documenting the first 25 years of womanist thought, The Womanist Reader traces the evolution of the womanist idea from Alice Walker's first published use of the term in 1979, through the theoretical innovations and departures of Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and Clenora Hudson-Weems, to its current appearance in numerous academic disciplines, activist domains, and artistic arenas. From theology to architecture, literature to anthropology, history to psychology, film studies to sexuality studies, social work to education, communication studies to nursing studies, and, of course, Africana studies to women's and gender studies, this book gathers groundbreaking articles by well-known and lesser known authors from around the world into common dialogue. To balance the discussion, the book includes several critiques of womanism from a variety of perspectives and authors. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography of womanist sources and resources which may assist researchers and students as well as the general interest reader.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE WOMANIST READER:
“Long overdue, Layli Phillips' The Womanist Reader is a pioneering text that illuminates the genealogy of womanism and its complex meanings. Phillips' articulation of its connections with and departures from both ‘feminism’ and ‘black feminism’ is cogent and provocative. This anthology lays the groundwork for future scholarship on this little understood analytic construct, but critically important intervention in the broad project of social justice.†—BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL, editor of Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Comparative Women’s Studies, Spelman College
“Bringing together many groundbreaking articulations of womanist thought, Layli Phillips has assembled a superb collection. The Womanist Reader is essential reading for womanists, feminists, activists, and scholars in many disciplines, including women’s studies, Africana studies, African-American Studies, ethnic studies, and American Studies.†—ANALOUISE KEATING, coeditor of this bridge we call home and Professor of Women’s Studies, Texas Woman's University
“This important reader is a theoretical and methodological breakthrough in our understanding of womanist scholarship from a wide array of disciplines. This is essential reading that highlights the contributions of womanism to gender theory and praxis.†—FILOMENA STEADY, editor of The Black Woman Cross-Culturally and Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, Wellesley College
“Layli Phillips' comprehensive anthology is a much-needed reader for today and for generations to come. The Womanist Reader chronicles twenty-five years of juxtapositioned insights and empowering revelations by womanists across the disciplines.†—KATIE G. CANNON, Annie Scales Rogers Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education
"This collection of classic womanist essays is a gem -- and so badly needed in our bleak times. These grand prophetic and poetic voices unsettle and inspire us!" -- CORNEL WEST, Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion, Princeton University.
