ABSTRACT
A close examination and analysis of spirituality and models of human’s religious interaction presented by creative Black women in Africa and in the diaspora show that survival and self-actualization draw from both spiritual and physical dynamism and that most African communities constitute a complex unity with enough room for the development and growth of individuals. In this context, spirituality is recast into a model of culturally sustained agency for creating lasting and liberating values. This paper surveys the influence of the spiritual on the writings of some Black women in Africa and in the diaspora, the meaning and relevance of the spiritual to their creative empowerment, and the choices it presents to literary subjects. The analysis here draws from the works of various writers but, at the end, highlights in particular, crucial insights from two prominent authorsJamaican-born Afro-Caribbean poet, Lorna Goodison, and the Nigerian poet, Catherine Acholonu.
