Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics (Paperback)

by Traci West (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wounds of the Spirit is a complex book about a complex and difficult topic."

- Hypatia

Product Description

In Wounds of the Spirit, Traci West employs first person accounts-from slave narratives to contemporary interviews to Tina Turner's autobiography-to document a historical legacy of violence against black women in the United States. West, a black feminist Christian ethicist, situates spiritual matters within a discussion of the psycho-social impact of intimate assault against African American women.

Distinctive for its treatment of the role of the church in response to violence against African American women, the book identifies specific social mechanisms which contribute to the reproduction of intimate violence. West insists that cultural beliefs as well as institutional practices must be altered if we are to combat the reproduction of violence, and suggests methods of resistance which can be utilized by victim-survivors, those in the helping professions, and the church.

Interrogating the dynamics of black women's experiences of emotional and spiritual trauma through the diverse disciplines of psychology, sociology, and theology, this important work will be of interest and practical use to those in women's studies, African American studies, Christian ethics, feminist and womanist theology, women's health, family counseling, and pastoral care.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814793355
• ISBN-13: 978-0814793350
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #590,946 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #99 in

  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Abuse & Self Defense > Rape

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READ IT! Important for the church, community, and academia !, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

Traci West accomplished something very difficult and very rare: she wrote a book that is very readable yet extremely smart; it is well researched, well argued, and engages current scholarly discussions, yet it is timely and has great political significance. "Wounds of the Spirit" engages deep and painful social and cultural structures and systemic injustices and does a very good job at showing some of the connections between the possibilities for resistance that already exist and some that may become possible in the future. This is a book about the cost of sexual violence that is written with intelligence, compassion, and a strong and clear activist intent. It benefits greatly from the author's relentless refusal to be pigeonholed as either too "churchy" or too "academicy" and her self-conscious reliance on the voices and wisdom of the women she interviewed and whose stories centrally inform her study. The result is a highly relevant study, written with the conviction that black women's lived reality can and does tell all of us something incredibly important about society, religion, and culture. Do read this book!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking Book, May 20, 2004

By	Robert Huttmeyer (Madison, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book successfully attempts to do three things: (1) look at the impact of violence on black women, (2) shows the ways in which society and church covers up this problem, and (3) gives and ethic in order to create change with the church and society.
First using narrative, West chronicles the lives of Black women as they struggle with various forms of violence. Especially troubling is the idea that violence does not exist for black women.
This silence is enforced not just by men but by the structures in society which place how white women are affected by violence as the norm for how all women are affected. West analyzies how this happens in our society.
She then outlines an ethic as to how the community can create change so that the issue og violence against black women can be understood and made to change.
A must read for all church workers and those concerned about violence against women.