Kinky Curly Theological Collective

The Kinky Curly Theological Collective is a center of theological reflection that affirms and builds on the experiences of women of color as a legitimate locus of pedagogy, centered in the perspectives of African and African American women. It does this by taking a community centered approach in which practitioners learn, teach, and grow together in our own teaching and practice - with an emphasis on spiritual wellness. In doing so, we will nurture and build a new cadre of spiritual leaders whose understanding of God and God’s world is validated in our identity as African and African American women.

The Kinky Curly Theological Collective is now entering our second year of existence. Here are a few things that we have coming up in the next several months and how your donation will help us grow into the entity we are called to be: 

Reading and Studying Together
We are reading two books as a collective throughout the next year: Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston and My Soul is a Witness by Gloria Wade Gayles. Both of these books echo themes that have emerged from the writing that we have done so far. We will be posting reflections and discussion questions on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/496076910744852/ starting January 2, 2019 so be sure to join it if you have not already to stay in the know.

Hosting Writing Workshops:
Throughout 2018, our most successful venture was the hosting of writing workshops which gave us the opportunity to connect with each other, reflect on our spiritual practice, and write. We are going to continue with the implementation of these, pairing each session with an embodied practice including dance, yoga, art, and meditation.

Accepting Submissions
In 2018, we received nearly a dozen essays and poetry, which were showcased at our performance at the Heart of the Beast Theatre on Sunday, September 30. This was such a rewarding process that we want to continue to compile these narratives for publishing in 2019. We will open the submission process at the start of the New Year and hold it open until April 30. If you want to make sure that you get word about the process once it opens, please join our page our facebook page listed above. 

Formalizing Our Structure:
Now in our second year, the Kinky Curly Theological Collective is taking our work to the next level. But we need your help in order to do it. Here are a few ways that you can help out with this today:

- Join our leadership team: If you are a woman of African ascent living in Minnesota, we want to hear from you! We need people like you to help us with recruitment, organizational development, and more. 

- Changing our name: We could use your amazing ideas to help us come up with a name more suitable for this group and where we are headed in the future. Help us do so by compiling your thoughts here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSpA1R4yUpkfEsvv5fVbCVepTHJI854HQVk4-rmKpLxSEZIg/viewform 

- Sustainability: Moving into this year, we will be doing a lot of work that costs including formalizing our business structure, publishing our narratives, hosting workshops, and providing honorariums to those who offer their gifts and time to the collective. In 2018, we were able to pay all of the speakers and facilitators who participated in the collective and we were also able to provide small honorariums to those who responded to our call for submissions. In order to continue this work, we are asking for donations from our friends and supporters of the work.