Spiritual Activism as a Means to Transform "the Trump Effect": Womanist and Chicana Feminist Possibilities

• In Event: 34.046 - Inhabiting the Tensions and Potentials of Decentering the Human in Anticolonial Educational Research

Abstract

In the wake of the election of Trump and his administration’s policies, people of color have experienced intensified violence and oppression. Children of color, especially, have been increasingly subjected to overt racism both in and outside of educational settings, and with recent immigration policies, some have been forcibly separated from families and placed in detention facilities (CLASP, 2018; Domonoske & Gonzales, 2018). As education scholars concerned with the maltreatment of children of color, we must seek multiple ways to challenge such injustices. In light of “the Trump effect” (Costello, 2016, p.1), or the anxiety and fear that has ensued for children of color since Trump’s pre-election campaign, we posit that concerted actions are needed from often untapped sources, including efforts that cross human-centric boundaries, such as spiritual activism. Pillips (2006) suggests that “spiritual activities involve communication between the material and spiritual realms, based on the assumption that these realms are actual, interconnected, and interpenetrating” (p. xxviii). Importantly, Womanist and Chicana feminist spiritual activism uniquely de-centers the human while maintaining a focus on dismantling oppressive conditions. This answers the call from scholars who contend that we must rethink human/more than human binaries while simultaneously working towards equity and social justice (King, 2018; Yusoff, 2018).
Womanists (Maparyan, 2012; Walker, 1983) and Chicana/Latina feminists (Anzaldúa, 1987; Facio & Lara, 2014) have theorized about suturing our mind/body/spirit splits through energy work, meditation, accessing spiritual guides and ancestral knowledges, curanderismo (Mexican healing traditions), and mysticism. Maparyan (2012) explains, “the implication for spiritual activism is that human beings, as spiritually infused energy transformers, both respond to and create morphogenetic fields…[and] we become able to use this ability toward social change ends” (p. 124). Thus, in this paper, we theorize with notions of Womanist and Chicana feminist spirituality to inspire new ways to address the Trump effect. Analysis is first focused on otherworldly events. Examples include what Gloria Anzaldúa (2007) has described as her encounters with the wind. She recalls, “I remember listening to the voices of the wind as a child and understanding its messages” (p. 58). Theorizing such encounters can teach us about acknowledging connections between each other, animals, and the earth, and provide new ways to reimagine, for instance, oppositional politics. As a form of spiritual praxis, Maparyan (2012) has suggested radical forgiveness to cultivate “a shift in perception that allows one to see the larger spiritual meaning of events,” which can provoke one to reconsider “the victim/perpetrator duality” (p.197). She cautions that radical forgiveness does not imply an “ ‘anything goes’ morality” (p. 197), rather it allows for a shift in energies to enact strength and healing, as well as a means to incite “peacebuilding more broadly” (p. 197).
Womanism and Chicana feminist spiritual activism crosses human-centric boundaries while inspiring new approaches to challenge injustices that children of color are experiencing in the era of Trump. These efforts are significant to heal from and transform an increasingly racist, sexist, colonialist, and violent world.

Authors

• Michelle Salazar Perez, New Mexico State University

• Cinthya M. Saavedra, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley