Womanist Reader

Comprehensive in its coverage, The Womanist Reader is the first volume to anthologize the major works of womanist scholarship. Charting the course of womanist theory from its genesis as Alice Walker’s African-American feminism, through Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi’s African womanism and Clenora Hudson-Weems’ Africana womanism, to its present-day expression as a global, anti-oppressionist perspective rooted in the praxis of everyday women of color, this interdisciplinary reader traces the rich and diverse history of a quarter century of womanist thought. Featuring selections from over a dozen disciplines by top womanist scholars from around the world, plus several critiques of womanism, an extensive bibliography of womanist sources, and the first ever systematic treatment of womanist thought on its own terms, Layli Phillips has assembled a unique and groundbreaking compilation.

"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 Director of the Women's Center, Spelman College "Bringing together many groundbreaking articulations of womanist thought, Layli Philips 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." —Filomina 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, author of Katie's Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community

Layli Phillips is Associate Professor of Women's Studies and an associate faculty member of the department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University. This is her first book.