Overview

Fleshing the Spirit brings together established and new writers exploring the relationships between the physical body, the spirit and spirituality, and social justice activism. Examining the complex and dynamic connections among these concepts, the writers emphasize the value of """"flesh and blood experience"""" as a site of knowledge. They argue that spirituality—something quite different from institutional religious practice—can heal the mind/body split and set the stage for social change. Spirituality, they argue, is a necessary component of an alternative political agenda focused on equitable social and ecological change. The anthology incorporates different genres of writing—such as poetry, testimonials, critical essays, and historical analysis—and stimulates the reader to engage spirituality in a critical, personal, and creative way. This interdisciplinary work is the first that attempts to theorize the radical interconnection between women of color, spirituality, and social activism. Before transformative political work can be done, the authors say in multiple ways, we must recognize that our spiritual need is a desire to more fully understand our relations with others. Conflict experienced on many levels sometimes severs those relations, separating us from others along racial, class, gender, sexual, national, or other socially constructed lines. Fleshing the Spirit offers a spiritual journey of healing, health, and human revolution. The book's open invitation to engage in critical dialogue and social activism—with the spirit and spirituality at the forefront—illuminates the way to social change and the ability to live in harmony with life's universal energies.

Full Product Details

9780816530977

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is one of the best books I've read all year. --AnaLouise Keating, author of Transformation Now!: Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change

This is one of the best books I ve read all year. AnaLouise Keating, author of <i>Transformation Now!: Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change</i>

A comprehensive collection of feminist spirituality will be incomplete without this volume. --Publishers Weekly This is the first book that attempts to theorize the connection between the brown female body, spirituality, and social activism, or to argue that spirituality is a necessary component of an alternative political agenda. --Ed�n E. Torres, author of Chicana Without Apology: The New Chicana Cultural Studies This is one of the best books I've read all year. --AnaLouise Keating, author of Transformation Now!: Toward a Post-Oppositional Politics of Change Collectively these scholars provide us with a way to engage the idea of spirituality critically, personally, and creatively. --Dolores Delgado Bernal, co-author of Chicana/Latina Education in Everyday Life: Feminista Perspectives on Pedagogy and Epistemology

Author Information

Elisa Facio is an associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado–Boulder

Tab Content 6

Countries Available