Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times

Description

This biography explores Alice Walker's life experiences and her lifework in context of her philosophical thought, and celebrates the author's creative genius and heroism. Born in Eatonton, GA, in 1944, a daughter of sharecroppers, Alice Walker has lived a remarkable and courageous life, and she continues to do so as an elder. Taking inspiration from her great-great-great-great grandmother who lived enslaved in the American South and died at age 125, Walker's activism stems from a philosophy that embraces all life and expresses itself through courageous truth-telling, a resolute stand for freedom, and radical love. Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times offers a full examination of the intellectual underpinnings of Walker's life and her oeuvre from a philosophical standpoint. This philosophical biography draws a portrait of the author that reveals the nuances of her character, clarifies the relationship between her life experiences and her lifework, and the philosophical thought that underlies both. This work will be essential reading to those interested in Black studies, women's studies, the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements, peace studies, the American South, philosophy, psychology, sociology, spirituality and New Age literature, and ecology and eco-feminism. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Series Foreword......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 Section I. Earth Poem: "There Are Bad Women Walking on the Planet Now"......Page 20 One I Am the Earth. . . .......Page 24 Two For Six Years I Do Not Look Up......Page 32 Three Everything Changed......Page 38 Four A Spelman Girl......Page 44 Five On My Own Terms......Page 52 Section II. Fire Poem: "A Message to Younger Sisters: Be Whole"......Page 58 Six I Would Only Be the Philosopher......Page 60 Seven Changing the World......Page 68 Eight Meridian: Coming of Age in Mississippi......Page 76 Nine Thought at the Meridian......Page 86 Ten Truth Teller, Freedom Writer......Page 96 Section III. Air Poem: "The Clitoris Knows When and How"......Page 106 Eleven Apologia: Honoring the Difficult......Page 108 Twelve Helped Are Those Who Know......Page 116 Thirteen A Woman of One's Own: Womanist Philosophy and Revitalization of the Sovereign Feminine......Page 126 Fourteen The Sacred Masculine......Page 136 Fifteen The Gnostic Gospel of My Father's Smile......Page 146 Section IV. Water Poem: "My Body Is a Farm" (For My Son)......Page 158 Sixteen Mbele Aché......Page 162 Seventeen Sub Rosa No Longer: Our Daughters Have Mothers......Page 172 Eighteen Absolute Goodness......Page 182 Nineteen Why War Is Never a Good Idea......Page 190 Twenty We Are the Ones......Page 196 Section V. Aether Poem: "Little Girls"......Page 202 Twenty-One The Cathedral of the Future......Page 206 Twenty-Two Caritas: The Greatest of These......Page 214 Twenty-Three Ouroboros......Page 222 Twenty-Four "Alice" Is Old Greek for Truth......Page 232 Twenty-Five Lapis Philosophorum......Page 236 Notes......Page 238 Index......Page 264