Home
Ecowomanism: Resilience, Theology and Justice in a Time of Climate Change
Ecowomanism is an approach to climate justice that features the voices and contributions of women of color, specifically women of African descent. Using intersectional and interdisciplinary methods, it points out ways that issues of social justice are connected to issues of environmental justice. By foregrounding the voices of women of African descent, this presentation discusses the particular importance of including black women’s voices into the work of climate justice by uncovering the religious and spiritual tenets that shape earth honoring faiths. The lecture will feature models of women of African descent including Wangari Matthai and Alice Walker whose contributions to the environmental movement have helped to reshape understandings of interconnectedness, justice and stewardship. In addition to lifting these models, the lecture will include discussion of ecowomanist contemplative practices such as centering prayer and eco-poetry writing that can invite us to consider how the movement of the spirit is alive in the work of environmental justice too.
Dr. Melanie L. Harris is Professor of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies jointly appointed with African American Studies at Wake Forest University. She also serves as the Director of Food, Health and Ecological Well Being at Wake Forest University. A graduate of Spelman College and Harvard University, Dr. Harris is a leading scholar in ecowomanism, a poet, preacher and mother. As an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. Harris weaves her academic work and scholarship with her artistry as a singer, researcher and writer. She is the author of many scholarly articles and books including Gifts of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics (Palgrave), Ecowomanism: Earth Honoring Faiths (Orbis), Ecowomanism, Religion and Ecology (Brill) and co-editor of Faith, Feminism, and Scholarship: The Next Generation (Palgrave) as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Harris is the founding director of the Ecowomanist Center in Research, Climate Justice, Leadership and the Environment, a non-profit 501c3 dedicated to celebrating the life work, activism and writings of ecowomanist and environmental writers.
Dr. Harris is also a former broadcast journalist who worked as a news producer for ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates. A community leader whose passion for education is linked to a commitment to social justice, she has also served as an educational consultant with the Ford Foundation, the Forum for Theological Exploration, and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Lilly Endowment Inc. She is on the executive board of the Society for the Study of Black Religion and has served on the Board of Directors of KERA-TV/Radio, the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics. Dr. Harris has been awarded several prestigious awards and academic fellowships including the AddRan College of Liberal Arts Administration Fellowship and GreenFaith Fellowship. Dr. Harris earned her PhD and M.A. degrees from Union Theological Seminary in The City of New York, an M. Div. from Iliff School of Theology.