Feminism, Art, and Religion in the North Atlantic

While the terms feminist and feminism originated in the North Atlantic in the 19th century, the practices and ideals of feminism emerged through global circulations of power, goods, and ideas. Outside Europe and North America and in indigenous communities within those continents, people have for centuries been challenging gender norms and promoting the well-being of women, sometimes embracing and other times refusing the label feminist. Within the North Atlantic, the philosophies and movements that comprise feminism were conceived and constructed with and against women, the ideas of women, and the collective actions of women around the world. The story of feminism, in other words, includes its cultural moorings, translations, limitations, and revisions—and religion and the arts have been significant forces in those negotiations. Religion and the arts have been important to the story of feminism because they provided feminists material they could reclaim, deny, alter and otherwise use to advance feminist ideas and projects . In the case of the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have birthed, aided, and antagonized feminist movements, as feminists augmented resources within those traditions for affirming women and enlarging their social roles while they defied aspects that diminished and circumscribed women. Feminists’ ambivalent relationship with religious traditions positioned art as a fecund site for reimagining and rechoreographing gender within those traditions. In media as diverse as literature, visual arts, fashion, theater, film, and song, art proved a powerful force for transforming the symbolics of gender and experimenting with new gendered identities and values. Via art, feminists criticized the commitments and visions of religious traditions, and they also sometimes criticized religious art or art engaging religious themes. They critiqued; they constructed. By breaking and making images and artworks, feminist movements nourished and invigorated an imagination of power and identity more favorable to women.

Duke Scholars

Author Natalie Carnes Divinity School