INTO THE KPANGUIMA: QUESTING FOR THE ROOTS OF WOMANISM IN WEST AFRICAN WOMEN’S SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL FORMATIONS

Womanism has emerged as a culturally situated social and ecological change perspective devised and named by—but not limited to—Africana women. While some scholars have struggled to define the uniqueness of womanism relative to feminism and humanism, others have authored decidedly womanist scholarship with great exuberance and little concern for how womanism relates to any other perspective. For many decades, it has been my scholarly quest to identify and name the defining attributes of womanism and to articulate what makes womanism a distinctive and potent worldview and praxis. This chapter attempts to situate womanism within the Black intellectual tradition