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One of womanism's greatest challenges is resisting attempts to define or redefine it and use it and its wot ideal, womanish, in ways that disassociate it from its cultural context and social reality, This paper posits that the term womanish, is culturally derived and African-centered and that womanism and womanish must be preserved and constantly developed as valuable ways of Black women thinking, asserting themselves and living in the world. As a culturally-derived concept, womanish ("mannish" for boys) is rooted in the social practice of Black adults, especially Black women, of setting boundaries for Black girls, but simultaneously recognizing their coming into their own as women, making clear and steady steps toward maturity.
One of womanism's greatest challenges is resisting attempts to define or redefine it and use it and its root ideal, womanish, in ways that disassociate it from its cultural context and social reality. This paper posits that the term womanish, is culturally derived and Africancentered and that womanism and womanish must be preserved and constantly developed as valuable ways of Black women thinking, asserting themselves and living in the world. As a culturally-derived concept, womanish ("mannish" for boys) is rooted in the social practice of Black adults, especially Black women, setting boundaries for Black girls, but simultaneously recognizing their coming into their own as women, making clear and steady steps toward maturity. As an African-centered concept, not only is it rooted in African or Black culture, but it also affirms the value and validity of African culture and is in the emancipatory and creative interest of African women and African people as a whole. In other words, it is a culturally-affirming and transformative ideal of the self-agency and social struggle of Black women to resist all forms of oppression and assert themselves in freedom, confidence and creativity.
The central concern of this paper is: (1) to affirm the cultural integrity of the term womanish as descriptive of a Black girl and thus to argue that it does not become an adjective or noun removed from that fact in popular parlance; (2) to maintain that the term " womanist" as in African-centered womanism, is independent of analogy with feminist, and independent of the need for womanism to replace feminism as a...