Open AccessSacred Genealogies: Spiritualities, Materiality and the Limits of Western Feminist Frames
Author(s) -
Christina M. Holmes
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
phaenex
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1911-1576
DOI - 10.22329/p.v11i1.4398
Subject(s) - spiritualities , spirituality , materiality (auditing) , ecofeminism , sociology , aesthetics , gender studies , popularity , environmental ethics , art , political science , philosophy , law , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
After a turbulent period during which feminist studies disavowed ecofeminism, the field is finding new popularity with strains that have made their way into gender and sustainable development studies and new material feminisms. To do so, they have had to evacuate all traces of spirituality. This essay reviews the circumstances under which spiritual ecofeminisms fell from favor before turning to theologians, religious studies scholars, and Chicana feminist theorists and artists for whom spirituality plays a central role. It asks: how can we take spirituality and religion seriously again in ecofeminism? Is there room to respect spirituality even in feminist environmental safe houses, whether socialist and development oriented or science-infused new material approaches? This essay concludes with artist Amalia Mesa-Bains’s installations as a case study to illustrate what Chicana environmentalisms could teach us about materiality and spirituality within a decolonial framework.