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WOMEN AND RELIGION IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA: KNOWLEDGE, POWER,

AND PERFORMANCE edited by R. Marie Griffith and Barbara Dianne Savage

Article  in  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion · March 2009

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01439_9.x

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Review
Reviewed Work(s): Women and Religion in the African Diaspora: Knowledge, Power, and
Performance by R. Marie Griffith and Barbara Dianne Savage
Review by: Stephen D. Glazier
Source: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion , Mar., 2009, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Mar.,
2009), pp. 204-206
Published by: Wiley on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

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 204 JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION

makes the case that gendered spiritualities REFERENCES

are
internalized in New Age workshops and heal
ing sessions. This can happen Sered,
because of
Susan and AmytheAgigian. 2008. Holistic sickening:
emphasis on "personal projects of Breastredefini
cancer and the discursive worlds of comple
mentary and alternative practitioners. Sociology of
tion and self-transformation" (p. 165) in these
Health and Illness 30(4):616-3 1.
settings. Significantly, androgynous language
Turner, Edith. 1996. The hands feel it: Healing and spirit
promoting the unification of "male"
presenceand
among"fea northern Alaskan people. DeKalb,
male" powers often masks a deeply gendered
IL: Northern Illinois University Press.
paradigm in which male is associated with the
rational and female with the instinctive. Still, SUSAN SERED
Suffolk University
she concludes that "there are multiple spaces
Boston, Massachusetts
for women to work as active healing agents
WOMEN
within New Age circles, and that AND RELIGION
fluidity of IN THE
practice-and the centrality ofAFRICAN DIASPORA:
one's own reli KNOWLEDGE,
POWER,
gious experience-is liberating for AND(p.
women" PERFORMANCE. Edited by
219). R. Marie Griffith and Barbara Dianne Savage.
That conclusion is highly debatable. While Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University
fluidity and subjectivity do create openings Press, 2006. xx + 374 pp. $65.00 cloth, $22.95
for women's empowerment in patriarchal cul paper.
tures, those same traits allow for a less-than
liberating open-endedness and individualizing This important collection is an outgrowth
of the healing process. As I have argued else of a three-year-project funded by the Ford
where (Sered and Agigian 2008), the notion Foundation as well as a conference held at
of "holistic healing" rests on casting the one Princeton University in 2004. The volume is
who needs to be healed as "holistically ill." international in scope and covers women's re
Seen from that perspective, much of New Age ligious lives in North America, the Caribbean,
healing involves a ritualized narrative process Brazil, and postcolonial Africa. The first five
through which discrete corporeal or emotional chapters address problems of leadership and
symptoms are widened into an infinitely broad authenticity, while Chapters 6-9 focus on
assessment of misfortune, character defects, women who have tried to exercise author
stunted spirituality, and unhealthy lifestyles. ity within patriarchal religious organizations.
The paradox of New Age healing is that the The final group of essays (Chapters 10-13)
very fluidity of its conceptual frameworks can examines religious expressions outside tradi
leave the individual in a chronically "unhealed" tional church settings (e.g., the arts, media,
state. By the same token, the New Age empha consumer culture, and in the construction of
sis on individual subjectivity may distract at domestic space). Contributions span diverse
tention from structural factors such as poverty, disciplines- most notably religious studies,
inequalities, and violence that cause chronic anthropology, sociology, and art history.
illness and that lead many women to New In their thoughtful and illuminating in
Age circles. That some of these women be troduction, R. Marie Griffith and Barbara Di
come healers does not change these structural anne Savage "problematize" the term Diaspora
facts. by exploring its meaning for both Africans
All in all, Women and Reiki is a worthwhile and African Americans. As Tracey E. Hucks
book. Macpherson demonstrates the centrality correctly contends, Diaspora is not a unified
of healing in New Age religion, the gendered concept and is best understood as "an elas
discourses that permeate New Age settings, tic category of religious analysis" (p. 19).
and the value of using anthropological, so Each chapter deals with religion in a differ
ciological, historical, and philosophical tools ent social context and poses questions about
to study a still-emerging contemporary move "lived religions" in particular times and places.
ment. I look forward to seeing more of her Rachel Elizabeth Harding's excellent chapter
work. "E a Senzala: Slavery, Women, and Embodied

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BOOK REVIEWS 205

Knowledge in Afro-Brazi
support of per
derscores the
theenduring
chapter byim
memories of slavery
Weisenfeld'sin N"
while Isabel Mukonyora's
provides an ins
and the African Diaspor
composer Eva J
sowe Apostles,
in an
orderAfrican
to con
examines dispossessed
tidian level, Cw
wean Christian
Sisterchurches.
Zubayda
Smoothed the
lim Way,
RitualsI Ope
of
in the Yoruba-Orisha
offers an Tra
insig
and Deidre dimensions
Helen Crumbl of
Blood': women
Menstrual (e.g., a
Taboos S
in an burgers,
African Instituted ordeCh
boundaries more
of modestin
orthodoxy c
ria, respectively,
bie andRous
dolls). Pau
son's illustrate
"Joining the way
Afric
tion and Diasporic
bodied. Religio
The f
the GarifunaMcGlathery's
in Honduras
troduces ican
Garifuna Women
ideas con
and subjectivity. Chapters
cogently explor
illustrate that it
variedisresponse
not onl
religious claims
to that
this are co
section
how such claims
by ultimate
employing
personal identity.
tion and compr
Another Chapters
goal of this by
pro
struct a feminist theolog
noteworthy fo
Diaspora-a difficult
barriers taskb
faced
not a single Smoothed
point of refer
the W
feminism. Contributors
culties three pa
ex
women's Molly
labors onAhye,
behalf a
zations; especially
in the rol
establishing
in male-dominate
transmitting religious i
are not always
know the same,
these wom
women depicted
the by Mart
difficulties
Us a Power': African
sis does notAme
tak
bate the 'Woman
tors Question,
that played
markedly rejection)
from the of
fiery t
P
portrayed ney
by facedBest
Wallace resis
i
Holy Ghosting is aa Male Spir
predomi
ican Preachingtual Women
Baptist)an o
Gender." resistance of
Transmission becr
is also a focustersofinAnthea
New Yo
Woman WouldTrinidad;
Do: andR
Bible
American sistance Organ
Women's becau
Nineteenth- an island
and whe
20th-cen
separated in exclusively
time as KarlmaM
have seen religion
tably Cuba asand
a s
oppression. female
But-as devote
the ch
section demonstrate-the
the Religious
more complex.
munityWomen's
Work r
are sometimes in
Force defiance
of Faith,

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 206 JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION

As someone
delineates the link between women's who has worked in the area
spiritual
quests and their advocacy of social
of mediachange. Atmore than a decade, I
and religion for
was surprised
times, Gilkes points out, community that I was unfamiliar with any
organizers
of the book's
find religion to be both prophetic and contributors.
empow Looking at their
biographies,
ering, while at other times (as Hucks, this Crum
was not surprising because
bley, and Mukonyora also emphasize) women
most are new scholars and the majority of them
struggle mightily to overcomedo sexist
not specialize in media or marketing. Fair
cultural
assumptions. enough. However, further examination of this
Women and Religion in the collection
AfricanrevealedDias
additional gaps. I was puz
pora both preserves and lovingly
zled atencompasses
the paucity of references to major works
a multiplicity of black women's
by Stewart
religious
Hoover or
expe
Jim Twitchell or R. Lau
rence Moore,
riences. A central organizing principle iswhose
that book
ofSelling God is the
"lived religion." All chapters challenge the
definitive text in cat Nor was Shoppingfor
the field.
Faith or Wade
egorical and conceptual hierarchies Clarksepa
that Roof's Spiritual Market
placespace
rate belief from behavior, public anywherefrom
in evidence.
priShaking the World
vate space, and elite from popular
for Jesus:
religions
Media and Conservative
and Evangelical
Culture by
contributors give special attention to my colleague Heather Hendershot
processes
of embodiment. Rachel Harding'swas included,
chapter,but was so heavily relied upon
for
example, charts memories ofthroughout
slavery as item
the book became redundant.
bodied in dance, physical labor, Inclothing,
the introductionand
editor Dominic Janes
adornment. Lisa Collins's chapter centers
explains that the aim ofonShopping for Jesus
is "to
the erotic art of Alison Saar. Of explore the
course, a connections
focus between belief,
its presentation,
on "lived religion" is not new. It may represent and the processes by which it
a new paradigm for some, but isanthropologists
sold and consumed." He also outlines the
(and some sociologists and religious
framework of thestudies
book, which is comprised of
scholars) have been studying "lived
four sections:
religions"
Rewriting the Scriptures, Evan
all along. What sets this book apart,
gelicalism howMarketing Perfor
and Purification,
ever, is its attention to "lived mances, and finally,
religion" asAgency,
ex Producers and
pressions of religious, economic, Consumers. As I read through the collection,
and political
authority. these divisions seemed arbitrary and did little
to help me negotiate the collection of topics
REFERENCE presented. I also realized why I was not seeing
some of the major works I referred to above.
Bascom, William. 1960. Shango in the new world. Austin, Marketing isn't really the through line for this
TX: University of Texas Press.
work. Rather, it is media. I believe that is why,
in large part, the book did not hold together for
STEPHEN D. GLAZIER
University of Nebraska me. I should also note here that one of the most
Kearney and Lincoln, Nebraska off-putting parts of the volume is that there are
numerous misspellings and grammatical errors.
SHOPPING FOR JESUS: FAITH IN MAR Criticisms aside, this book does have some
KETING IN THE USA. Edited by Dominic highlights that are of note. Diane Carver Sek
Janes. Washington, DC: New Academia Pub eres does an excellent job of presenting the
lishing, LLC, 2008. 300 pp. $26.00 paper. state of religious publishing, particularly to
"tween" audiences in "Balancing the Mission
When I was asked to review a new book on and the Market: Christian Children's Books for
marketing religion, I jumped at the opportunity Tweens." This chapter presents the key issues
to see what others were doing in a field where affecting this market. Most notably the con
I am one of the lonely few. Unfortunately, my solidation of publishers, the increased use of
excitement faded fairly quickly when I began branding, the four-eyed four-legged consumer
reading Shopping for Jesus: Faith in Marketing that is marketing to kids, and finally the im
in the USA edited by Dominic Janes. pact of WalMart on this industry. Darren E.

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