Working with Narratives

Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in Africana Communities

“…While African concepts of wellness generally characterize a person's health status as a communal affair, it also characterizes human knowledge as limited: incapable of explaining all that exists on Earth and beyond (Fu-Kiau, 1991). Therefore, healing is predicated on the maintenance of positive relations between humans and the spiritual realm, nature, and among fellow human beings (Jackson-Lowman, 2004;Omonzejele, 2008;Opoku, 1978).…”

“…God is considered the supreme source of healing from which all sources of healing are derived. Special deities (e.g., Osanyin and Agwu, Yoruba and Igbo deities, respectively) and spirits are guardians who guide the curative use of nature's vast healing energies (Opoku, 1978;Washington, 2010). (Re)establishing spiritual harmony with one's ancestors is a healing prerequisite that allows for access to special cures (Omonzejele, 2008).…”

Womanist Preservation: An Analysis of Black Women ’s Spiritual Coping

“…It is the act of storytelling and sharing experiences, either sacred or secular, that enlivens the spiritual knowingness of women of African ancestry (Banks-Wallace & Parks, 2004;Parks, 2007) while potentially furnishing space for cathartic testimony. For further consideration, at the discretion of the participant(s), utilization of spiritual practices may also be appropriate during research studies and may elicit a connection and relationship between the researcher(s) and participant(s).…”

“…Not surprisingly, based on the findings in this research health is perceived as a spiritual domain among the reporting study participants. Coping behaviors such as prayer, affirmations, laying of hands, candle burning, and spiritual surrender are likely to be important forms of health intervention (Parks, 2007). As demonstrated by the research presented, multiple spiritualized approaches can and are often used interchangeably by Black women and their families to optimize desired health outcomes and cope with related challenges.…”

“Somebody Bigger than You and I”: The African American Healing Traditions of Camp Minisink

“…African American women, in particular, played key roles in establishing Camp Minisink's foundation. The othermothering (Parks 2007) or community mothering or allomothering, with its roots in Africa is a defining feature of Black womanhood (Brown-Manning 2013) that was organically transmitted into the camp's policies and practices. Parks (2007) identified the West African terms of maum or mauma for spiritual mothers.…”