Mysticism and Black feminist resistance in the Vida of Úrsula de Jesús

Úrsula de Jesús's Vida puts her life story in dialogue with a broader Afrodiasporic feminist tradition and community. Úrsula's discourse articulates her liberation through eloquent rage, defined by Brittney Cooper as Black women's refusal to be relegated to an inferior position. Thoug...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inColonial Latin American review Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 183 - 208
Main Author Styles, Monica
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.04.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Black people
Blackness/negritud
Catholic mysticism/misticismo católico
Christianity
Christians
Discourse
Emancipation
Feminism
feminism/feminismo
gender and sexuality/género y sexualidad
Healing
Hegemony
Hierarchies
Life history
Morality
Mysticism
Racial identity
Rage
Refusal
Resistance
Rhetoric
Suffering
Women
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Summary:Úrsula de Jesús's Vida puts her life story in dialogue with a broader Afrodiasporic feminist tradition and community. Úrsula's discourse articulates her liberation through eloquent rage, defined by Brittney Cooper as Black women's refusal to be relegated to an inferior position. Though imitatio is a common trope among Christian mystics, Úrsula uses the trope to represent her positionality as a moral authority because of her Blackness. In doing so Úrsula refuses to accept the inherent anti-Blackness of prevailing arguments that erase the possibility that she could be fully human because of her Blackness. As she repeats and inverts hegemonic interpretations of Christian doctrine, Úrsula achieves a nuanced critique of racial hierarchies. This paper highlights how Úrsula's depiction of her suffering as a donada and her work as a healer is a Black feminist discourse that calls for a reimagining of racial hierarchies. Úrsula sustains a Black feminist critique in her discussion of suffering she faced individually and as part of a broader Afrodiasporic community, Black feminist imitatio and a rhetoric of healing rage that effects change within a system designed to deny Black women's humanity.
ISSN:1060-9164
1466-1802
DOI:10.1080/10609164.2024.2350864