Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women by Akasha Gloria Hull


Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women
Title : Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 089281943X
ISBN-10 : 9780892819430
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 272
Publication : First published January 4, 2001

• A celebration of the journey of African-American women toward a new spirituality grounded in social awareness, black American tradition, metaphysics, and heightened creativity.

• Features illuminating insights from Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Dolores Kendrick, Sonia Sanchez, Michele Gibbs, Geraldine McIntosh, Masani Alexis DeVeaux and Namonyah Soipan.

• By a widely published scholar, poet, and activist who has been interviewed by the press, television, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered

From the last part of the twentieth century through today, African-American women have experienced a revival of spirituality and creative force, fashioning a uniquely African-American way to connect with the divine. In Soul Talk, Akasha Gloria Hull examines this multifaceted spirituality that has both fostered personal healing and functioned as a formidable weapon against racism and social injustice.

Through fascinating and heartfelt conversations with some of today's most creative and powerful women--women whose spirituality encompasses, among others, traditional Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, Native American teachings, meditation, the I Ching, and African-derived ancestral reverence--the author explores how this new spiritual consciousness is manifested, how it affects the women who practice it, and how its effects can be carried to others.

Using a unique and readable blend of interviews, storytelling, literary critique, and practical suggestions of ways readers can incorporate similar renewal into their daily lives, Soul Talk shows how personal and social change are possible through reconnection with the spirit.


Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women Reviews


  • Belle

    It is the perfect push to start looking for purpose.

  • Malebo Sephodi

    what a read! exactly what i needed for this existential crisis i am experiencing

  • Jo Forrester

    I did not enjoy this book. If I could I would rate it 2 and a half stars. It took me so long to finish it and I had to force myself through it. I felt like the author used too many words to say something and then repeated the same themes too often. Some sentences would run on for so long that I'd forget the original point.. It never had me fully engaged. I suspect that my issue with it is that I'm not that 'deep.' The author references another book, Salt Eaters, so often that this book felt like a thesis based on it.

    The author references other authors and films that I plan to check out. I am interested in spiritualism but this author's writing style did not work for me. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I would not recommend this book to a friend.

  • Paige

    I finished this book a year ago and it inspired me to write a series of black quantum feminist zines. before this book I had never really seen black women's creative & spiritual process and theories of the universe explained in any way with any seriousness. This is a sacred text.

  • Readhead

    I couldn't get through this book. It's very unnecessarily wordy. The way it's written takes you two or three paragraphs to actually understand what is being said. I didn't even get through a quarter of this book before I just gave up and gave it away because I realized I was not interested nor going to continue reading it.

  • esmat ahmadian

    superuseful personal practical frame in the shape of a triangle: politics, creativity, spirituality

  • Essence McDowell

    This book changed by life. It's everything and more. It helped me find my place amongst a lineage of women with whom I share a common ancestry. I'm so grateful for the words of Mama Akasha. I wish I could meet her one day and say thank you for writing Soul Talk. Thank you for providing such enriching knowledge and deep spiritual affirmation that stretches across decades.

  • Lynecia

    Off The BookShelf Project #56

  • Fenesha

    I appreciate the author's willingness to write about connecting with spirits, which is not always embraced by the African American community.

  • Jessica

    Groundbreaking. Hulls methodology is inspirational.

  • Lawrence

    ht how to survive the end of the world