Reconstructing subversive moral discourses in the spiritual autobiographies on nineteenth-century African American preaching women

Using the spiritual autobiographies of selected nineteenth-century African American women, this inquiry reveals how these women constructed subversive discourses as moral actors and social reformers, even in the midst of religious, racial and gender oppression. Cuffee argues that their discursive se...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cuffee, Sallie M. (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Indiana Univ. Press [2016]
In: Journal of feminist studies in religion
Year: 2016, Volume: 32, Issue: 2, Pages: 45-62
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B USA / Women, Black / Woman preacher / Spirituality / Autobiography / Morals / History 1800-1900
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
CH Christianity and Society
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KBQ North America
NCB Personal ethics
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Using the spiritual autobiographies of selected nineteenth-century African American women, this inquiry reveals how these women constructed subversive discourses as moral actors and social reformers, even in the midst of religious, racial and gender oppression. Cuffee argues that their discursive self-assertion involved them in transformative acts that moved them from the status of marginalized survivors of white supremacy and chattel slavery to empowered, moral subjects at the intersection of religion, race, gender, and identity ideologies. This article examines how these women appropriated biblical rhetoric, abolitionist ideals, and the Protestant evangelical conversion and sanctification doctrine to realign themselves in opposition to and in disruption of dominant stereotypes and negative perceptions about their race and gender to liberate themselves from hegemonic structures, as well as to sustain them in their preaching missions and gender-justice protests.
ISSN:8755-4178
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of feminist studies in religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2979/jfemistudreli.32.2.05