Dianne M. Stewart
Dianne Marie Stewart is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Emory University. Dr. Stewart's work focuses on religion, culture and African heritage in the Caribbean and the Americas as well as womanist religious thought and praxis.[1] Dianne M. Stewart is the author of Three Eyes for the Journey: African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience (Oxford University Press, 2005), Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage (Seal Press, 2020) and Obeah, Orisa and Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume II, Orisa: Africana Nations and the Power of Black Sacred Imagination (Duke University Press, 2022).
Personal life
Dianne M. Stewart was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Hartford, CT, USA.[1] In 1990, Stewart obtained her B.A. degree from Colgate University in English and African American Studies. In 1993, she obtained her Masters of Divinity in theology and culture, specializing in African American Religious Thought from the Harvard Divinity School. In 1997, she received a Ph.D. in systematic theology, specializing in African Diaspora Religious Thought & Cultures from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.[1][2]
Stewart studied with scholars including Delores Williams, James Washington and her adviser James Cone.
Career
From 1998 to 2001, Stewart was an assistant professor of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross.[2] From 1997 to 1998, Stewart was a visiting professor at Macalester College.[2] In 2001, she joined Emory's faculty, and is currently Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American studies.[1] where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses focused on African American/diaspora, religion, and culture.[1]
Publications
Stewart's first monograph was titled, "Three Eyes for the Journey: African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience" and analyzed the motif of liberation in African heritage from the 18th to 21st century.[1] Subsequently, Stewart has published a number of books and articles:
| Year | Publication | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Routledge Taylor & Francis Group | "African archives in the Caribbean: the Yoruba tradition, cultural experts, and the unmaking of religious knowledge in twentieth-century Trinidad" | |
| 2022 | Duke University Press | Obeah, Orisa and Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume 2, Orisa: Africana Nations and the Power of Black Sacred Imagination | |
| 2020 | Seal Press | Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage | |
| 2019 | Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition | "The Orisa House That Afro-Catholics Built: Africana Antecedents to Yoruba Religious Formation in Trinidad" | |
| 2018 | Victorian Jamaica | "Kumina: A Spiritual Vocabulary of Nationhood in Victorian Jamaica" | |
| 2016 | Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion Vol. 7, Issue 1.4 (July 2016), 1-29 | "Rethinking Indigenous Africana Sources of Womanist-Feminist Activisms in the 21 st Century" | |
| 2014 | The Oxford Handbook of African American Theology, edited by Katie Cannon and Anthony Pinn, 331-350. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014 | "Religious Pluralism and African American Theology" | |
| 2013 | Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora (Reprinted from Chapter 4 of Dianne M. Stewart, Three Eyes for the Journey: African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience) | "Visitation: The Legacy of African-Derived Religions in Jamaica" | |
| 2013 | Journal of Africana Religions Vol. 1, no. 1 (January 2013): 28-77 | "Africana Religious Studies: Toward a Transdisciplinary Agenda in an Emerging Field" | |
| 2013 | Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology | "Matricentric Foundations of Africana Women's Religious Practices of Peacebuliding, Sustainability & Social Change" | |
| 2013 | Del Caribe | "Las Religiones Heredadas del África Central en el Contexto Jamaicano" | |
| 2008 | The Hope of Liberation in World Religions | "Orisha Traditions in the West" | |
| 2007 | International Journal of African Renaissance Studies 2:1 (July 2007): 35-57 | "Collecting on Their Investments One Woman at a Time: Economic Partnerships Among Caribbean Immigrant Women in the United States" | |
| 2006 | Indigenous Peoples’ Wisdom and Power: Affirming Our Knowledge Through Narratives, edited by Ivy Goduka and Julian Kunnie, 127-142. | “Indigenous Wisdom at Work in Jamaica: The Power of Kumina" | |
| 2006 | Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society edited by Stacey Floyd-Thomas | "Dancing Limbo: Black Passages through the Boundaries of Place, Race, Class, and Religion in Deeper Shades of Purple" | |
| 2006 | Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, edited by Rosemary Skinner Kellar and Rosemary Radford Ruether, 116-126. | “Women in African Caribbean Religious Traditions” | |
| 2005 | Oxford University Press | Three Eyes for the Journey: African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience | |
| 2005 | Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 1, 2nd edition, edited by Lindsay Jones, 73-83. | “African American Religion: History of Study” co-authored with Tracey E. Hucks | |
| 2005 | Contours: A Journal of the African Diaspora 3:2 | "African-Derived Religions in Jamaica: Polyvalent Repertoires of Culture and Identity in the Black Atlantic" | |
| 2004 | Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion | "Womanist Theology in the Caribbean Context: Critiquing Culture, Rethinking Doctrine, Expanding Boundaries" | |
| 2004 | Union Seminary Quarterly Review | "Womanist God-Talk on the Cutting Edge of Theology and Religious Studies: Assessing the Contribution of Delores Williams" | |
| 2003 | Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 27, no. 3 | “Authenticity and Authority in the shaping of Trinidad Orisha Identity: Toward an African-Derived Religious Theory,” co-authored with Tracey Hucks |
Awards and Fellowships
Stewart received the Emory College of Arts and Sciences' Distinguished Advising Award, the Emory University Laney Graduate School's Eleanor Main Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, and a Senior Fellowship at the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry.[1] Over the course of her career, her honors include:
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Faculty Award for Inclusive Excellence in the Humanities, Laney Graduate School, Emory University |
| 2022 | Black Interfaith Fellowship Program, Interfaith Youth Core/Funded by the Henry Luce Foundation |
| 2021 | Chronos Faculty Fellowship |
| 2021 | Kirkus, Best Books of 2020: Black Life in America |
| 2021 | Morehouse College’s Collegium of Scholars |
| 2021 | Longlisted, History Category, Georgia Writers Association Author of the Year Award, Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American |
| 2020 | Kirkus Star, Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage |
| 2020 | Library Journal Star, Black Women, Black Love: America’s War on African American Marriage |
| 2020 | KQED Forum – Favorite Books of 2020 (Black Women, Black Love) |
| 2019 | Emory CFDE, The OpEd Project Workshop – Write to Change the World |
| 2019 | Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award |
| 2017 | The Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry Senior Fellowship, Emory University |
| 2016 | PERS Grant, Emory College of Arts and Sciences |
| 2016 | Eleanor Main Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, Emory University Laney Graduate School |
| 2016 | CFDE Engaged Learning Program Grant |
| 2016 | Center for Creative Arts Grant |
| 2013 | Distinguished Advising Award, Emory College of Arts and Sciences |
| 2012 | American Academy of Religion, Collaborative Research Assistance Grant (Trinidad & England) |
| 2011 | Woodruff Presidential Faculty Research & Travel Grant (DR Congo & England), Emory College |
| 2009 | Woodruff Faculty Resource Grant, Emory College |
| 2008 | ICIS Faculty International Travel Grant (England), Emory College |
| 2006 | Fulbright Scholar, Democratic Republic of Congo |
| 2006 | ICIS Faculty International Research Grant, Emory College |
| 2005 | Massee-Martin Teaching Consultation Grant (with Dr. Regine Jackson), Emory College |
| 2005 | ICIS Faculty International Travel Grant, Emory University (Jamaica & Trinidad) |
| 2003 | ICIS Faculty International Travel Grant, Emory University (Trinidad) |
| 2002 | Massee-Martin Teaching Consultation Grant (with Dr. Frances Foster), Emory College |
| 2001 | University Teaching Fund, Emory University (Collaborative Gullah Project with Dr. Tracy Rone) |
| 1999 | American Academy of Religion, Collaborative Research Assistance Grant (Jamaica) |
| 1999 | Hewlett Mellon Grant, Holy Cross College (Trinidad & Tobago) |
| 1999 | Hewlett Mellon Grant, Holy Cross College, Educational Technology Web Site SETA Program |
| 1998 | Research and Publication Faculty Fellowship, College of the Holy Cross (Trinidad & Tobago) |
| 1998 | Wallace Faculty Research Grant, Macalester College (Nigeria) |
Fieldwork
Stewart uses transdisciplinary methods in her research, including the collection of qualitative data which includes ethnographic field work. The focus of her research is African religions and the practices and religious thought of African-descended people in the regions of Anglophone Caribbean and the United States.[1] Another aspect of her research is women's studies, particularly womanist approaches to religion and society. Stewart has lectured and conducted research in African, Latin American, and Caribbean countries including, Trinidad, Jamaica, Nigeria, The Benin Republic, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Congo, and Bermuda.
References
- "Dianne M. Stewart". religion.emory.edu. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- "Dianne Stewart - Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- "Dianne Stewart". emory.academia.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-28.