Editor’s note: this is the second in a two-part series exploring the Mujerista theology of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz. Check out last week’s article for Part 1! 

The Method: Un poquito de Justicia

One of the challenges in describing Isasi-Diaz’s methodology is that this theology is defined through its conception of praxis. (1) Following Roberto Goizueta’s understanding of Latin American Liberation Theologies as praxis, we can say that Mujerista theology rejects those theologies that presuppose that Christian faith is, fundamentally, an intellectual assent to certain propositions and doctrines, and that it rejects any idea of the task of theology as a purely rational exercise that is divorced from the daily actions of the theologian herself. (2)  This raises the question: what is the value of trying to define the content of this theology apart from its methodology, subjecting it to categories imposed by the Anglo-European academic mainstream?  As an intellectual exercise, this is of no value. As a practice, however, I believe it is important to define the “how’s” of Isasi-Diaz’ Mujerista theology, especially if our aim is to reimagine today’s communities of faith practicing a theology that is Mujerista. My hope in describing the following elements of her method is to answer the question: How can we do Mujerista theology?

In this sense, I describe Isasi Diaz’ method as “Un poquito de justicia,” (a little bit of justice), which is the title of chapter six of Mujerista Theology. With this phrase, I want to convey that for Isasi-Diaz, the theological thoughts, and actions of Mujeristas are transformed incrementally, poquito a poco, (little by little). Moreover, the transformation of the heart happens through a process of concientización, (consciousness-raising). This raising of our awareness happens when Latinas are able to share their stories with one another in a community that values and celebrates them through the sharing of stories of injustice, resilience, faith, hope, and this is how the hearts are transformed, little by little, for their own liberation. Concientización is the process through which we share our understanding of the beliefs and practices that are oppressive for Latinas. This highlights God’s ongoing revelation in our lives, but it also emphasizes the preferential option for the poor and the oppressed, as in the story of the Gospel. As Isasi-Díaz explains, when Latinas provide or encounter opportunities to articulate their understandings of religious beliefs and practices, this becomes a consciousness-raising enterprise and, as such, it is a liberative strategy. (3) 

Furthermore, she suggests that sharing in group theological reflections makes it possible for real religious beliefs and understandings of Latinas to come to the surface, to be articulated. These real beliefs live some times in the subconscious part of our brains, and although repressed, they are many times the real source of women’s strength as they struggle for survival. (4) Some examples of beliefs that need to be articulated and challenged are: when Latinas normalize the belief that God does not want women to hold positions of leadership in the church, or that for women to be good Christians they must remain submissive to the voice of men, or that the substance and matter of a woman’s body is different than a man’s body, thus she cannot aspire to the priesthood. Only through articulating such theologies can their hegemony be challenged. 

The most important outcome in the sharing of these common/shared experiences is solidaridad. Solidarity is ultimately the demand that the Gospel makes on all Christians to stand in union with and support of the poor and the oppressed. Isasi-Díaz asserts that to stand in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed one has to start by listening to their cries. Solidarity is the response to the cry for justice of those who are victimized. Furthermore, those who are non-poor, or less poor, non-oppressed or less oppressed, are not capable of deciding on their own to be in solidarity with those who suffer oppresion; however, by listening to the stories of Latinas, they stand open to receive the “grace of conversion” as they listen to what the oppressed have to say and we discover how non-Latinas are involved in and profit from the oppression of others.

Another element of method in Mujerista theology comes from its source. Ada María Isasi-Díaz insists on the lived experience of Latinas as the source of Mujerista theology. In constructing a theology and a method for Latinas’ lived experience, Isasi-Díaz is building a bridge between two types of contextual theologies: a theology that follows an ethnographic (5) approach, and a theology that follows a liberationist approach, which also emphasizes the need for social change. (6) While never losing sight of Latin American liberation theology’s commitment to the liberating praxis and the creation of concrete ‘historical projects’ (proyectos históricos) (7), Isasi-Díaz’s Mujerista theology creatively expands the discourse to include questions of race, culture, context, and gender. 

A third element of method in Mujerista theology has to do with intentionally addressing and describing injustice, what Isasi-Diaz calls a Mujerista account of justice. As Isasi-Díaz explains, the reason to study oppression is to find effective means to work against it for justice. Therefore, the articulation of a Mujerista understanding of justice must contribute to the elimination of injustice, and it needs to be concrete enough to force an option. (8)  In her essay ‘Doing Mujerista Theology’, Isasi-Díaz is intentional and detailed when explaining injustice and the sinful nature of oppression. She approaches justice by examining the structures of oppression that force Latinas to live in the midst of unjust structures. (9)  In this way, Mujerista theology addresses the active and effective participation of Latinas in making justice a reality (10). Isasi-Díaz describes five forms of oppression that need to be recognized when developing a strategy in the work for justice. These are: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and systemic violence.

Isasi-Diaz’s account or vision for justice is the creation of a historic project (el proyecto histórico) that embraces Latinas’ prophetic vision and desires for justice. It is the articulation of this project as if it was a prophecy, articulating the values that are envisioned, and the strategy in the engagement with the struggle for justice. Isasi-Díaz describes five important elements in the Mujerista account of justice:

1. Claiming the intrinsic union between practice and reflection in the establishment of justice. (11)

2. Concreteness. The vision of justice needs to be contextualized and historical. This means we need good social, political, and economic descriptions and analyses of Latinas’ reality, always remembering that descriptions and evaluations have to be critical and point towards liberation. (12)

3. Some discontinuity with the past. This means that justice is not dependent on the inherent possibilities of the past. (13)

4. Recognizing and dealing with differences rather than just acknowledging the problem of differences. To embrace differences is to reject assimilation, but our relational understanding of group differences rejects exclusion as well. (14) 

5. Honest dialogue about power. Power is understood as a force that can be use to dominate or to liberate. In a liberative use of power, the dominant agent uses their power not only to benefit the subordiante agent, but also to undercut the power differential between her and the dominant agent. (15) 

Conclusion: My assessment

Isasi-Díaz’s method to bring about justice from the lived-experiences of grassroots Latinas, as expressed in the 1990s, was groundbreaking, effective, empowering, and foundational in the creative development of feminist liberation and Latin American theologies of the twenty-frist century. It was groundbreaking in the sense that Isasi-Díaz built a contextualized theolgy in an intersectional way, concerned with the ethnographic context as well as the socio-economic-gender and political issues that were pressing for Latinas at the time. In today’s context, one would expect to see her work expanded to include other intersections such as race and further gender realities, like the realities of queer Latinas, and the continuum of LGBTQIA+ Latin/o/a/e/x inclusion.

 I believe the work of concientización is one of the most powerful tools in this liberative praxis, to the point that if only concientización is achieved, one could say that the work of liberating the minds has jumpstarted. It is interesting that Isasi-Díaz talks about concientización as the demand of the Gospel to stand in solidarity with the poor, when concientizacion has been used since the 1950s in secular movements of liberation, as demonstrated in the accounts of Paulo Freire and his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the work of Myles Horton and the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, and el Movimieto del Nuevo Cancionero in Argentina, in the 1960s. All of these were powerful secular movements for liberation, which seemed to have made its way to the church by the time of the 2nd Vatican Council in Rome.  I bring this up to highlight the importance of concientización in both religious and secular Latin American liberation movements. This makes me ponder the possibility that for Latinas, there is no separation between a secular and a religious liberation project, just as Isasi-Díaz suggests that there are not two histories (a secular and a sacred one), but rather that we, Latinas, exist in lives where lo cotidiano and lo mundano are deeply integrated with the sacred. As we celebrate this integration, may we encounter new ways of speeaking about God, new ways to bring about the liberation of the oppressed and marginalized, and more and safer spaces to share our stories within our communities, and our communities of faith.

1.  In Latin American liberation theology, praxis means that our understanding of God is one with our human activity: to know God is to do justice and to love God is to love one’s neighbor. In this sense, human activity is what grounds our theological reflection.

2. Goizueta, Roberto S. Caminemos con Jesús: toward a Hispanic/Latino theology of accompaniment. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 1995. 78

3. Isasi-Díaz, Ada María. Mujerista theology: a theology for the twenty-first century. 107

4. Isasi-Díaz, Ada María. Mujerista theology: a theology for the twenty-first century. 108

5. Ethnography is a qualitative research method where data is collected through observations and interviews, which is then used to draw conclusions about society or social groups.

6. Tirres, Christopher D. Conscientization from Within lo Cotidiano: Expanding the Work of Ada María Isasi-Díaz. 2014. Feminist Theology. 312-323. 22.3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0966735014527200

7. Isherwood in Tirres.

8. Isasi-Díaz, Ada María. Mujerista theology: a theology for the twenty-first century. 106

9. Isasi-D Díaz. 109

10. Ibid

11. Isasi-D Díaz. 116

12. Isasi-D Díaz. 117

13. Ibid.

14. Isasi-D Díaz. 118

15. Isasi-D Díaz. 119