Feminist Sparks – Page 3 – Feminism and Religion

Birthing a New World by Xochitl Alvizo

Yesterday I “paused” my post and left you with words from a dear friend Edyka Chilomé, a powerful “artivist” invested in the healing of our world. And our world is in need of healing indeed.

Today was another tough day of carrying the pain of our continued inhumanity toward one another: Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Myanmar…and so many other ongoing tragedies. I find it hard to find words – to know what to offer here on Feminism and Religion. Some days it seems necessary to go on with our work as planned; la lucha is every day and we keep at it. But other days, keeping on as planned just seems absurd. I think these are precisely the days that Audre Lorde had in mind when she wrote that poetry is not a luxury. Continue reading “Birthing a New World by Xochitl Alvizo”

Shakespeare’s Sister Revisited: A Circle of Female Lineage by Mary Sharratt

Vanessa Bell’s painting of her sister, Virginia Woolf

What do groundbreaking 17th century poet, Aemilia Bassano Lanier, and 20th century feminist icon, Virginia Woolf, have in common? A lot actually.

In her 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf imagines the tragedy of Shakespeare’s brilliant sister, Judith, barred from the grammar school because of her sex and forced to hide her writing from her family. To escape a forced marriage to a man she hates, she runs away to London to seek her fortune in the theatre, only to end up pregnant, abandoned, and destitute. Out of despair, she kills herself. Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Sister Revisited: A Circle of Female Lineage by Mary Sharratt”

Feminism and Buddhism: constructive wave interference by Oxana Poberejnaia

oxana Although it can be said that the Buddhist teaching can benefit all, including feminists, it can also be argued that Feminism has a lot to teach Buddhist practitioners. Rita M. Gross made this point brilliantly in her “Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism.”

While Buddhism generally encourages investigation, it is still easy for a Buddhist practitioner to become complacent. This complacency can be caused by the feeling of safety that your particular school of Buddhism provides. How your mind works, how the world works are all explained, all is well, just keep practising in the assigned paradigm, there is no need for thinking outside the box.

However, Buddhists often forget that it is exactly outside the box where the Buddha has been pointing with his every teaching, ever since he got liberated. When a Buddhist practitioner is stuck, the vigour of Feminism can provide inspiration. Feminists simply never stopped, do not intend to stop now.

Continue reading “Feminism and Buddhism: constructive wave interference by Oxana Poberejnaia”

Fuerzas Para La Lucha: Sources of Strength for the Struggle

Art work designed by Jaysen Waller - http://www.jaysenwaller.com/ — Art work designed by Jaysen Waller – http://www.jaysenwaller.com/

When Ada María Isasi-Díaz lived in Chile, she had a neighbor who lived in extreme poverty who she remembered as someone “who never lost her sense of dignity and purpose of life,” even while she struggled day after day for her survival. She explained, “I remember the steadiness of her struggle: day after day she dealt with the reality of the present and survived that day in order to be able to face the next.”

From that experience Ada María Isasi-Díaz began to develop la lucha as a category of social analysis and as a theo-ethical category. La Lucha is a way of recognizing the reality of the grand injustices very much in place impacting people in their every day lives and how embedded these are into our intersecting systems and structures. The need for fuerzas para la lucha (strength for the struggle) is therefore great. Continue reading “Fuerzas Para La Lucha: Sources of Strength for the Struggle”

Updates on Listening by Xochitl Alvizo

The pieces of my dissertation are beginning to float to the surface, piece by piece, released into the world as smaller parts of the whole. At some point this all may become a book, but for now, I have enjoyed the opportunity to share some of the learning from my dissertation research in book chapters, articles, and blog posts, which I’d like to share with you all so that you can see some of what I’ve been up to these days.

The most recent piece that has come to be is an article on The Listening Guide, the particular method of narrative analysis I used to analyze the transcriptions of the interviews I conducted with participants of Emerging Church congregations. I’m particularly excited about this piece because I think it could be a useful tool to many of us in our respective fields of study and work. And although my particular context is theological and, even more specifically, Christian, as a tool and method, The Listening Guide can be used for reflection and be of great value in a variety of contexts. Continue reading “Updates on Listening by Xochitl Alvizo”

Cheeky Buddha by Oxana Poberejnaia

Feminism can be loud and in your face. Feminists can be unapologetic and radical in their statements. I could never bring myself to be abrupt with proponents of patriarchal views. Being a middle class Brit from a Soviet background, I withdraw from awkward situations and prefer to keep discussion within civil forms of defined discourse at conferences and letters to my MPs and to the BBC.

People who know that I practise Buddhist disciplines might say that this also plays a part in my avoiding direct confrontation. It is true but only up to a point. I do not rush into an argument mostly because of my training not to rush into anything, but to first become mindful and see where the impetus for my action is coming from: is it something worthwhile or is it some undigested trauma from childhood? It is usually the latter. Continue reading “Cheeky Buddha by Oxana Poberejnaia”

Feminist Sparks – Events and Announcements

Have you visited Feminism and Religion’s Feminist Sparks page?

Here you will find upcoming events, announcements, and other Sparking news related to feminism and religion at the intersection of scholarship, activism, and community. Feel free to send in your own suggestions of upcoming events and announcements to be added to the page. Please email those to feminismandreligionblog@gmail.com and include “Feminist Sparks – submission” in the subject line of the email.

Now scroll down to read the most recent Sparking News!

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Feminism and The Church
Call for papers deadline is Friday, February 21 (two more days to submit a proposal!)
March 21-23, 2014
Boston University School of Theology

The Center for Practical Theology and the Doctoral Student Association at Boston University will host the second Graduate Student Conference at BU’s School of Theology. Feminism and The Church is one of its four streams of inquiry under the larger theme, “Theological Research and The Church.” There is still room for paper and workshop proposals in the Feminism and the Church stream. Please submit your proposals and join Xochitl Alvizo and Mary Hunt, both FAR contributors, who will also be presenting. Additionally, Xochitl will be conducting an interview with Mary Hunt as part of the conference program. It should be fun – join us!

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A Revolutionary Moment: Women’s Liberation in the late 1960s and early 1970s
March 27, 28, 29, 2014
Boston University
Program Schedule is now posted

Hosted by the Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies program at Boston University, in partnership with many others, this conference aims to do some historical remembering and celebrating of the Women’s Liberation Movement as well as critical analysis and discussion of the unfinished business that still continues today. It will inevitably be a reunion of many of the women, and men, who were directly involved in the movement, but its scope is also much larger than that. It’ll be a very exciting event! Plan to attend and register now!

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Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete with Carol Christ
May 31-June 14. 2014 and September 27-October 11, 2014
Find the Goddess and a Society of Peace on a Sacred Sites Tour for women in Greece with Carol Christ, author of Rebirth of the Goddess. The Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete is a two week tour for women. Carol will lead you in rituals celebrating the grace and joy of life and introduce you to a pre-patriarchal culture where the Goddess was revered as the Source of Life, women were honored, people lived in harmony with each other and with nature, and there was no war. The pilgrimage will engage your body, mind, and spirit. Tours are small and intimate enough for community to develop. Join us now!

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Seminar on Debates about Religion and Sexuality
Harvard Divinity School
June 10-19, 2014
Applications are due February 5, 2014.

We are pleased to announce the 2014 summer seminar at Harvard Divinity School for scholars, other writers or artists, religious leaders, and activists who are working on a first large project in which they hope to change the terms of current debates around religion and sexuality. For scholars, this project would be either a doctoral dissertation or a first book. For other writers and artists, religious leaders, and activists, it might be a first book, though it might also be a new curriculum, a series of public presentations and performances, or a media piece. The seminar understands both “religion” and “sexuality” broadly. It especially seeks participants from outside the United States. Harvard Divinity School will pay for participants’ travel to Cambridge and lodging and meals during the seminar. The seminar will be directed by Mark D. Jordan (Washington University in St. Louis) and Mayra Rivera Rivera (Harvard University). Faculty from Harvard and other institutions or organizations will lead sessions in their areas of interest. Large portions of the seminar’s time will be devoted to discussing participants’ writing in workshop format. Applications are due February 5, 2014. Invitations to the seminar will be issued by February 20. Details of the application and further information about the program are available online at http://www.hds.harvard.edu/faculty-research/conferences-and-seminars/debates-about-religion-and-sexuality. Questions may be directed to rsseminar@hds.harvard.edu.

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