We Pursue Our Magic: A Spiritual History of Black Feminism--Marina Magloire in conversation with Holly A. Smith

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Charis welcomes Marina Magloire in conversation with Holly A. Smith for a discussion of We Pursue Our Magic: A Spiritual History of Black Feminism. Drawing on the collected archives of distinguished twentieth-century Black woman writers such as Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, Lorraine Hansberry, and others, Marina Magloire traces a new history of Black feminist thought in relation to Afro-diasporic religion. 

Beginning in the 1930s with the pathbreaking ethnographic work of Katherine Dunham and Zora Neale Hurston in Haiti and ending with the present-day popularity of Afro-diasporic spiritual practices among Black women, she offers an alternative genealogy of Black feminism, characterized by its desire to reconnect with ancestrally centered religions like Vodou. 

Magloire reveals the tension, discomfort, and doubt at the heart of each woman’s efforts to connect with ancestral spiritual practices. These revered writers are often regarded as unchanging monuments to Black womanhood, but Magloire argues that their feminism is rooted less in self-empowerment than in a fluid pursuit of community despite the inevitable conflicts wrought by racial capitalism. The subjects of this book all model a nuanced Black feminist praxis grounded in the difficult work of community building between Black women across barriers of class, culture, and time.

Marina Magloire is a Black feminist scholar, writer, and educator with roots in the Caribbean. She is currently assistant professor of English at Emory University and is the co-founder of Third World Feminist School, a popular education project for workers in South Florida. Her first book, We Pursue Our Magic: A Spiritual History of Black Feminism (UNC Press).

Holly A. Smith is the College Archivist at Spelman College.. She co-authored the article “This [Black] Woman’s Work: Exploring Archival Projects that Embrace the Identity of the Memory Worker” (KULA Journal, 2018:2), and authored the piece and “Wholeness is No Trifling Matter: Black Feminist Archival Practice and The Spelman College Archives” (The Black Scholar 52:2).  She is passionate about Black feminist archival practice and archival advocacy related to collections for historically under documented communities. 

This event is free and open to all people, especially to those who have no income or low income right now, but we encourage and appreciate a solidarity donation in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Charis Circle's mission is to foster sustainable feminist communities, work for social justice, and encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/CharisCircle?code=chariscirclepage