Womanism in Alice Walker’s theoretical writings

The essay In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens are rightfully labelled “womanist prose”, as they are
indeed an illustration and elaboration of the concept “Womanism”,

Alice Walker herself divided the collection of essays in four parts, basically on thematic grounds
wherein many themes run over the different sections, each having single overall theme.

1. The race issue

A first recurrent theme in Walker’s essays is the race issue. She talks about many black
artists in particular and touches upon several different aspects of black life. She is greatly
influenced by both the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King as not only gave the black people
“home but taught them to cherish their background, their traditions, and those things that
make them black people.
2. The gender issue
She claims to be an ardent feminist and states that “black women are the most fascinating
creations in the world” .She recognizes the bipartite identity of black women and makes
clear that because of their double identity, black women are the victims of both racism and
sexism.
3. The black female artist
The black artists have a clear social function. Their task is to represent the consciousness of
their people” as this “cannot be photographed”, but only “to some extent be written.”
Looking back on a tradition in which many women artists have been present, but have never
been acknowledged.
4. Motherhood
She often talks about heritage and matrilineage. Throughout the collection of essays, she
blends two senses of motherhood. First, there is some reference to motherhood in the
biological sense. Second, she refers to motherhood in a more symbolical and spiritual way.