Order my steps of faith: a philosophical self-reflection of faith using an African-American womanist-feminist standpoint
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Joy L. Kennedy (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Glenn Hudak
Abstract: This dissertation is a philosophical self-reflection inquiry of the term faith within a social context of human experience. The primary research question for this study is "How does faith assist me with making meaning as an educator?" The secondary research questions are: "How might faith impede my understanding as an educator? And, how have I navigated faith in a non-theological setting?" For this study, I use Black Feminist Epistemology (Collins, 2009) as the main theoretical framework. This theoretical context provides me the opportunity to engage my voice throughout the study in correlation to a cultural analysis of the term faith in the Black/African-American community. More specifically, I make connections to the lived experiences of faith for Black/African-American women. The theoretical framework of Black Feminist Epistemology supports the inclusion of Black/African-American women's voices through the integration of lived experience, dialogue, ethics of care, and ethic of personal accountability. Since religion and faith beliefs are important aspects in the lives of most Black/African-American persons, as a Black womanist-feminist, I have a personal accountability to include definitions of faith inside theological and non-theological frameworks. In a historic overview of the term faith, there are three salient themes of faith in the experiences of most Black/African-American women: Faith as Trust, Faith as Naming, and Faith as Hope. These three themes generally guide the teaching actions for the majority of Black/African-American women educators in academia. In addition, the study explores the "naming realities" (Dantley, 2005) of faith through my "prophetic imagination" (Brueggemann, 2001) as an African-American womanist educator. I utilize self-reflection to incorporate my varied lived experiences within special educational settings in the public school system. The study concludes with additional self-reflections of my lived experiences of faith as a graduate student.
Order my steps of faith: a philosophical self-reflection of faith using an African-American womanist-feminist standpoint
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Created on 8/1/2014
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2014
- Keywords
- Black Feminist Epistemology, Education, Faith, Self-Reflection, Womanist Philosophy
- Subjects
- African American women teachers $x Religious life $z United States
- Womanist theology $z United States
- Faith development
- Self-knowledge, Theory of