Blood and Bone

This community-based participatory action research project led by the C.I.R.C.L.E. (Collective Infiltrating Research to Center Community, Liberation, and Embodiment) employed interpretative phenomenological analysis via eco-womxnist and Afro-Indigenous cosmological frameworks to examine the connection between gendered-racial identity and sacredness among 11 nonbinary Black womxn (NBBW) from the US. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews, we elicited participants' responses to the following inquiry: Would you describe being a nonbinary Black womxn as sacred? Why or why not? Data analysis resulted in two themes: (a) Origins of Sacred Powers and (b) Manifestations of Sacred Powers. Four subthemes informed Manifestations of Sacred Powers: Sight/Seers, Osmosis, Intergenerational Healing/Curse Breaking, and Immortality. Participants described these four interconnected manifestations of sacred powers in service of collective and individual liberation, rooted in African spirituality, ancestral power, and the gendered-racial identity. We conclude with implications for future research and clinical practice with NBBW regarding spiritual beliefs, practices, and identities

Aesthetics · Identity (music · Indigenous · Interpretative phenomenological analysis · Participatory action research · Power (physics · Qualitative research · Sociology · Spirituality · Anthropology · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Gender Studies · Medicine · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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• The Influence of Gendered Racial Identity Centrality on Gendered Racism and Identity Shifting Among Black Undergraduate Women at a HBCU

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• Multiple Resistance Strategies

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• Healing and prophecy in the black spiritual churches

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