Cheryl Kirk-Duggan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Cheryl Kirk-Duggan
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 2019
In response to a lead article for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, “Silent Scripts an... more In response to a lead article for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, “Silent Scripts and Contested Spaces,” Cannon illustrated “Eliminating Ignorance.”1 We must be willing to embrace the benefits of embodied multiculturalism to address effectively, with powerful strategies, the dismantling of hierarchal, mechanistic patterns of racist misogyny that justify reasoned legitimacy of oppressive, systemic domination. Cannon did not simply choose to become an extraordinary pedagogue. Rooted in the legacy of her maternal great-grandmother, Martha Zella Barringer, one subjected to brutal, dehumanizing violence against her personhood, Cannon mirrored Barringer’s intellectual curiosity and zeal for learning. Barringer completed her elementary and secondary education at Scotia Seminary, a school of the Presbyterian Church. Generations of Cannon women believed education to be the oldest, most important field where they have served powerfully and have long focused their energies on embracing education as an arena of opportunity. Despite the paucity of funds, horrible living conditions, and other challenges, Martha and other black women, the vanguard of knowledge for freed people, were educators, courageously committed to emancipatory epistemology.
Watching Charlton Heston playing Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's movie epic The Ten Commandments alon... more Watching Charlton Heston playing Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's movie epic The Ten Commandments along with stories in Sunday School record my earliest recognitions of hearing about Exodus. Early on, many yoked the concept of exodus with the cause of liberation of the enslaved, the disenfranchised, those deemed other. Being educated towards the end of segregation and the beginnings of court-ordered integration in southern United States of America, I saw Martin Luther King, Jr. and others on live television as people marched on Washington and spoke about justice. I went to Sunday School the morning four little girls died because maniacs planted bombs in the 16 th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, also known as Bombingham. I played the theme from the movie Exodus as a teenager who had begun studying piano at the age of five. As children, our teachers believed we could do well and we did. Education was our exodus from the stereotypes blasted in the media, and the success our communities believed we could achieve. As an African American girl, daughter of the first African American Deputy Sheriff in the State of Louisiana, I knew about racism, though our parents shielded us from a lot of blatant oppression. Reading slave narratives while studying for the master's degree in music was a rude awakening about the depths of racial hatred. Through an undergraduate degree in voice and piano and my master's in music, I continued to assume that Exodus meant inclusive liberation and freedom. During my master's studies at seminary and my doctoral work, I began to see and hear the concept of exodus in a different light. With almost two decades of teaching in religious and theological education at the undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral levels, my lived experiences in
Writing from a womanist perspective, profess ional musician Cheryl Kirk-Duggan probes the spiritu... more Writing from a womanist perspective, profess ional musician Cheryl Kirk-Duggan probes the spirituals to r eveal what they say about the action of God in the face of r acial injustice and oppression. '
Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry's Productions
Journal of Women and Religion, 2002
A 21st century version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" might go like this: Humpty ... more A 21st century version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" might go like this: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the Queen's technology and all the Queen's entourage Couldn't put Humpty together again (1) "Humpty Dumpty," a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49), was mounted on top of the St Mary's at the Wall Church in Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it had been captured by the Royalists and they held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty" tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men (sic) tried to mend him but in vain. The "men" would have been infantry, and "horses" the cavalry troops. The preponderance of children's rhymes and their sometimes implicit and explicit violence creates an interesting foil for talking about a theo-poetics of health for 21st century people. People, like puzzles, are constructed of individual pieces, which must be correctly assembled if a pleasing wholeness is to result. Many times, wholeness is not the experience of women, men, and children. Many persons' live amid apocalyptic, eschatological moments, are chaotic, disembodied, and frightened. Many of us are confused and unfocused. While anger, fear, and dysfunctionality make superb soap operas and are the fodder for films and TV mini-series, there remains a human desire for the sacred, for connecting with that which is Holy. Holiness pertains to the intersection of faith, health, and spirituality. Using nursery rhymes as points of departure, this essay explores the impact of violence and the response of holistic health as a science and art of transformation, from a Womanist perspective. After reviewing my understanding of Womanist theological ethics and noting recent contextual realities of violence in the United States, I explore the violence factor that thwarts health and various expressions of health toward a holistic understanding. Then I examine the ways in which faith can affect health, and the need for developing an art and science of transformation for the survival of humanity on the planet. Purple Passion: Womanist Theological Ethics as a Subversive Rubric Purple symbolizes royalty, spirituality, passion, and love; for some, purple also connotes cruelty, arrogance, mourning. Purple symbolizes spirituality in the occidental/Western traditions, along with penitence and contrition. (2) When I think of Womanist realities and sensibilities I think of the color purple. What does Womanist mean? Womanist, derived by Alice Walker, (3) from the term "womanish," refers to women of African descent who are audacious, outrageous, in charge, and responsible, Womanist theological ethics, the study or discipline of God-talk amid human behavior, meaning, and values, emerges out of the experience of women of African descent. Womanist theory and praxis analyzes, problematizes, and critiques human individual, social, and systemic institutional behavior, the related value systems, in concert with the Divine toward analyzing and exposing injustice and the malaise due to multiple oppressions; and the misuse of power. A Womanist emancipatory theological ethics embraces hope; a transformation engendering mutuality and community; and honors the Imago Dei in all persons. This theory begins with the premise of the embodied sacred. That is, Womanist theological ethics builds on the essential goodness of humankind, and focuses on liberation amid personal, societal, and theological-ethical fragmentation. This Womanist manner of seeing questions issues pertinent to quality of life and stewardship; critiques decision making; and asks how these inquiries effect and are affected by the related social, political, economic, religious, and cultural environment. Womanist thought includes, but is not limited to issues in theology (identity, sacrality, subjectivity, spirituality, power); Bible and/or other sacred texts (authority, characters, language, rituals, history); ethics (value, behavior, visibility, integrity, praxis); and context (authority, culture, aesthetics, ecology, community). …
Globally, violence against women and girls is a pandemic—resulting in massive trauma and death. C... more Globally, violence against women and girls is a pandemic—resulting in massive trauma and death. Certain scriptures and cultural texts condone the aggression; others adamantly protest heinous, unjust behaviors. Lament provides an avenue for naming and processing individual and communal violence, grief, and pain. This essay explores lament as response to pain and suffering generated amidst sexual and domestic violence, from a global womanist perspective. After providing a brief overview of my womanist biblical hermeneutic, this essay: (1) explores lament as a response to patriarchal misogynistic violence in Scripture, in dialog with global domestic violence; (2) explores lament embodied in selected Psalms, lamentations, and a lament by Beyoncé; and (3) concludes by invoking lament as a pathway of engaging global, daily loss and grief.
Modern Christianity to 1900, 2010
The Journal of Traditions Beliefs, 2014
Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music... more Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music Institute M usic frames and shapes the worship and social justice life of most African American churches. Vocal and instrumental music accompanies Christians from birth to death, during special sacred holidays, weekly worship, and in protest against injustice and oppression. Socio-cultural and religious contexts, and the sacred and secular texts, inform music: a combination of sound and silence, affecting listeners on a deeply spiritual, sensual, physical, and psychological level. From making a joyful noise to moments of contemplation, from pomp and circumstance to baptism and funerals, music is integral to corporate worship. Simultaneously, worship does not just happen on Sunday in the sanctuary. Worship is a daily activity. Just as there is no monolithic African American church, there is no monolithic or single type of African American sacred music. The styles and choices of music used to worship vary from church to church, from denominational to nondenominational environments, from Catholic to Protestant, to those faith institutions that align with but are not Christian at the core. The lived experiences and needs of the body of Christ from cradle to grave also change and inform music preferences. Issues of education, socio-cultural location, colorism, gender, and class often also shape affinity to particular musical types. Further, not only do the genres, uses, and performance styles of this sacred music vary, but they emanate upon and within diverse praying grounds, and the particular choices from venue to venue are contested. When thinking of praying grounds, imagine multiple kinds of spaces. Where does one pray? Imagine having an attitude and experience of prayer, of communicating, of dialoguing with God, where one speaks and listens in venues or spaces that are sacred-churches, hallowed land, mosques, temples, synagogues, in nature, and places individuals think of as secular-in 1 Kirk-Duggan: The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
Choice Reviews Online, 2010
... 2. Righteous Anger and Sustaining Faith: Black Women's Activism in the Environmental Jus... more ... 2. Righteous Anger and Sustaining Faith: Black Women's Activism in the Environmental Justice Movement 27 Tuere Bowles 3. How ... Morrison, Sonja Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, Emilie Townes, Katie ...
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014
Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2007
Black Church in America is an interdisciplinary text engaging the tools of theology, autobiograph... more Black Church in America is an interdisciplinary text engaging the tools of theology, autobiography, philosophy, history, worship, and the many sociocultural contexts of the Black Church. This text features an overview of the many strands of Black Church faith in general, and the particularity of African American communal spirituality. Battle is a theologian and Episcopal priest, who lived in South Africa for two years, and who has been under the tutelage of Desmond Tutu. Other conversation partners include philosophers, theologians, ethicists, historians, and sociologists including
The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology, 2014
Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 2010
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2010
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 2019
In response to a lead article for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, “Silent Scripts an... more In response to a lead article for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, “Silent Scripts and Contested Spaces,” Cannon illustrated “Eliminating Ignorance.”1 We must be willing to embrace the benefits of embodied multiculturalism to address effectively, with powerful strategies, the dismantling of hierarchal, mechanistic patterns of racist misogyny that justify reasoned legitimacy of oppressive, systemic domination. Cannon did not simply choose to become an extraordinary pedagogue. Rooted in the legacy of her maternal great-grandmother, Martha Zella Barringer, one subjected to brutal, dehumanizing violence against her personhood, Cannon mirrored Barringer’s intellectual curiosity and zeal for learning. Barringer completed her elementary and secondary education at Scotia Seminary, a school of the Presbyterian Church. Generations of Cannon women believed education to be the oldest, most important field where they have served powerfully and have long focused their energies on embracing education as an arena of opportunity. Despite the paucity of funds, horrible living conditions, and other challenges, Martha and other black women, the vanguard of knowledge for freed people, were educators, courageously committed to emancipatory epistemology.
Watching Charlton Heston playing Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's movie epic The Ten Commandments alon... more Watching Charlton Heston playing Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's movie epic The Ten Commandments along with stories in Sunday School record my earliest recognitions of hearing about Exodus. Early on, many yoked the concept of exodus with the cause of liberation of the enslaved, the disenfranchised, those deemed other. Being educated towards the end of segregation and the beginnings of court-ordered integration in southern United States of America, I saw Martin Luther King, Jr. and others on live television as people marched on Washington and spoke about justice. I went to Sunday School the morning four little girls died because maniacs planted bombs in the 16 th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, also known as Bombingham. I played the theme from the movie Exodus as a teenager who had begun studying piano at the age of five. As children, our teachers believed we could do well and we did. Education was our exodus from the stereotypes blasted in the media, and the success our communities believed we could achieve. As an African American girl, daughter of the first African American Deputy Sheriff in the State of Louisiana, I knew about racism, though our parents shielded us from a lot of blatant oppression. Reading slave narratives while studying for the master's degree in music was a rude awakening about the depths of racial hatred. Through an undergraduate degree in voice and piano and my master's in music, I continued to assume that Exodus meant inclusive liberation and freedom. During my master's studies at seminary and my doctoral work, I began to see and hear the concept of exodus in a different light. With almost two decades of teaching in religious and theological education at the undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral levels, my lived experiences in
Writing from a womanist perspective, profess ional musician Cheryl Kirk-Duggan probes the spiritu... more Writing from a womanist perspective, profess ional musician Cheryl Kirk-Duggan probes the spirituals to r eveal what they say about the action of God in the face of r acial injustice and oppression. '
Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry's Productions
Journal of Women and Religion, 2002
A 21st century version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" might go like this: Humpty ... more A 21st century version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" might go like this: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the Queen's technology and all the Queen's entourage Couldn't put Humpty together again (1) "Humpty Dumpty," a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49), was mounted on top of the St Mary's at the Wall Church in Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it had been captured by the Royalists and they held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty" tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men (sic) tried to mend him but in vain. The "men" would have been infantry, and "horses" the cavalry troops. The preponderance of children's rhymes and their sometimes implicit and explicit violence creates an interesting foil for talking about a theo-poetics of health for 21st century people. People, like puzzles, are constructed of individual pieces, which must be correctly assembled if a pleasing wholeness is to result. Many times, wholeness is not the experience of women, men, and children. Many persons' live amid apocalyptic, eschatological moments, are chaotic, disembodied, and frightened. Many of us are confused and unfocused. While anger, fear, and dysfunctionality make superb soap operas and are the fodder for films and TV mini-series, there remains a human desire for the sacred, for connecting with that which is Holy. Holiness pertains to the intersection of faith, health, and spirituality. Using nursery rhymes as points of departure, this essay explores the impact of violence and the response of holistic health as a science and art of transformation, from a Womanist perspective. After reviewing my understanding of Womanist theological ethics and noting recent contextual realities of violence in the United States, I explore the violence factor that thwarts health and various expressions of health toward a holistic understanding. Then I examine the ways in which faith can affect health, and the need for developing an art and science of transformation for the survival of humanity on the planet. Purple Passion: Womanist Theological Ethics as a Subversive Rubric Purple symbolizes royalty, spirituality, passion, and love; for some, purple also connotes cruelty, arrogance, mourning. Purple symbolizes spirituality in the occidental/Western traditions, along with penitence and contrition. (2) When I think of Womanist realities and sensibilities I think of the color purple. What does Womanist mean? Womanist, derived by Alice Walker, (3) from the term "womanish," refers to women of African descent who are audacious, outrageous, in charge, and responsible, Womanist theological ethics, the study or discipline of God-talk amid human behavior, meaning, and values, emerges out of the experience of women of African descent. Womanist theory and praxis analyzes, problematizes, and critiques human individual, social, and systemic institutional behavior, the related value systems, in concert with the Divine toward analyzing and exposing injustice and the malaise due to multiple oppressions; and the misuse of power. A Womanist emancipatory theological ethics embraces hope; a transformation engendering mutuality and community; and honors the Imago Dei in all persons. This theory begins with the premise of the embodied sacred. That is, Womanist theological ethics builds on the essential goodness of humankind, and focuses on liberation amid personal, societal, and theological-ethical fragmentation. This Womanist manner of seeing questions issues pertinent to quality of life and stewardship; critiques decision making; and asks how these inquiries effect and are affected by the related social, political, economic, religious, and cultural environment. Womanist thought includes, but is not limited to issues in theology (identity, sacrality, subjectivity, spirituality, power); Bible and/or other sacred texts (authority, characters, language, rituals, history); ethics (value, behavior, visibility, integrity, praxis); and context (authority, culture, aesthetics, ecology, community). …
Globally, violence against women and girls is a pandemic—resulting in massive trauma and death. C... more Globally, violence against women and girls is a pandemic—resulting in massive trauma and death. Certain scriptures and cultural texts condone the aggression; others adamantly protest heinous, unjust behaviors. Lament provides an avenue for naming and processing individual and communal violence, grief, and pain. This essay explores lament as response to pain and suffering generated amidst sexual and domestic violence, from a global womanist perspective. After providing a brief overview of my womanist biblical hermeneutic, this essay: (1) explores lament as a response to patriarchal misogynistic violence in Scripture, in dialog with global domestic violence; (2) explores lament embodied in selected Psalms, lamentations, and a lament by Beyoncé; and (3) concludes by invoking lament as a pathway of engaging global, daily loss and grief.
Modern Christianity to 1900, 2010
The Journal of Traditions Beliefs, 2014
Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music... more Based on the author's keynote lecture for RASHAD's Spring 2009 Religious History and Sacred Music Institute M usic frames and shapes the worship and social justice life of most African American churches. Vocal and instrumental music accompanies Christians from birth to death, during special sacred holidays, weekly worship, and in protest against injustice and oppression. Socio-cultural and religious contexts, and the sacred and secular texts, inform music: a combination of sound and silence, affecting listeners on a deeply spiritual, sensual, physical, and psychological level. From making a joyful noise to moments of contemplation, from pomp and circumstance to baptism and funerals, music is integral to corporate worship. Simultaneously, worship does not just happen on Sunday in the sanctuary. Worship is a daily activity. Just as there is no monolithic African American church, there is no monolithic or single type of African American sacred music. The styles and choices of music used to worship vary from church to church, from denominational to nondenominational environments, from Catholic to Protestant, to those faith institutions that align with but are not Christian at the core. The lived experiences and needs of the body of Christ from cradle to grave also change and inform music preferences. Issues of education, socio-cultural location, colorism, gender, and class often also shape affinity to particular musical types. Further, not only do the genres, uses, and performance styles of this sacred music vary, but they emanate upon and within diverse praying grounds, and the particular choices from venue to venue are contested. When thinking of praying grounds, imagine multiple kinds of spaces. Where does one pray? Imagine having an attitude and experience of prayer, of communicating, of dialoguing with God, where one speaks and listens in venues or spaces that are sacred-churches, hallowed land, mosques, temples, synagogues, in nature, and places individuals think of as secular-in 1 Kirk-Duggan: The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century
Choice Reviews Online, 2010
... 2. Righteous Anger and Sustaining Faith: Black Women's Activism in the Environmental Jus... more ... 2. Righteous Anger and Sustaining Faith: Black Women's Activism in the Environmental Justice Movement 27 Tuere Bowles 3. How ... Morrison, Sonja Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, Emilie Townes, Katie ...
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014
Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2007
Black Church in America is an interdisciplinary text engaging the tools of theology, autobiograph... more Black Church in America is an interdisciplinary text engaging the tools of theology, autobiography, philosophy, history, worship, and the many sociocultural contexts of the Black Church. This text features an overview of the many strands of Black Church faith in general, and the particularity of African American communal spirituality. Battle is a theologian and Episcopal priest, who lived in South Africa for two years, and who has been under the tutelage of Desmond Tutu. Other conversation partners include philosophers, theologians, ethicists, historians, and sociologists including
The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology, 2014
Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 2010
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2010