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Womb Wisdom to Cosmic Wisdom

Women and African Spiritualities in Africa and the Diaspora

The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies

Abstract

This chapter explores the contributions of six women to the philosophical and spiritual significance of the feminine through the lens of female biology. These women are Susanne Wenger, Ayele Kumari, Bello Olarinmoye, Mercedes Morgana Cordova, Tiara Kristine, and Nyornuwofia Agorsor, who have either immersed themselves in African spiritualities or are African-American or African but define themselves through either African cosmologies or a blend of African and non-African spiritualities.

The focus of the chapter is on African and African-American thought, defined in terms of either the cultural sources of the ideas discussed or the ethnic identities of the artists and thinkers in question, or both. The novel formulations developed by the women amplify the positive values of ancient conceptions, particularly from Nigeria’s Yoruba spirituality, and strive to eliminate the negative, as these culturally grounded perspectives intersect with spirituality in general.

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Correspondence to Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju .

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© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Adepoju, O.V. (2019). Womb Wisdom to Cosmic Wisdom. In: Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_40-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_40-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77030-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77030-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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  1. Latest

    Womb Wisdom to Cosmic Wisdom
    Published:
    17 January 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_40-2

  2. Original

    Womb Wisdom to Cosmic Wisdom
    Published:
    31 August 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_40-1