Making African American Homeplaces in Rural Virginia

Abstract

In this article, I propose that anthropologists of Christianity broaden their understanding of emotion to include intense attachments to home and kin as central to cultivating faith. I use examples from my research with African Americans who continue to live on land purchased by their emancipated ancestors and attend a United Methodist church established by those same ancestors in rural Western Virginia. I suggest that theoretical attention to this worldly home, as well as to God, is key to understanding the process of belief. It opens up the possibility of seeing emotional connection as a catalyst for political awareness and change, and it also brings gender and generational relations into sharp focus. Ultimately, I argue that the maintenance of such African American religious and secular homeplaces works to challenge the legacies of racism in the rural South.

“We Are with Family”: Black Lesbian Couples Negotiate Rituals with Extended Families

“…Rituals are the occasions that serve to facilitate social interaction among family members so that families can transmit cultural and normative information as well as beliefs and values across generations" (p. 287). For many Black individuals in the United States, rituals link community, spirituality, history, and extended family (Goluboff, 2011). One example of a ritual in many Black communities is gatherings of extended family (e.g., family reunions) (McCoy, 2011).…”

“…to provide guidance, education, support" (McCoy, 2011, p. 21). In essence, the idea of experiencing these rituals is a profound and powerful connection to one's racial heritage and promotes an understanding of past, present, and future (Goluboff, 2011).…”

“…Historically, enslaved Black couples could not legally marry; despite this, many adapted wedding ceremonies embraced committed Black couples (O'Neil, 2009). The roles of Black churches and Black spirituality have strengthened the role of wedding rituals in many Black communities, by spiritually honoring the unions between heterosexual partners (Goluboff, 2011).…”