Corporeal Conscientization

Abstract

Erotic care of the soul constitutes physical expressions of love that when executed by and upon Black women affirm, through acts of care, the worth and divinity of Black female corporeality, and being. This chapter provides a phenomenology of erotic care, in the service of exploring the impact erotic encounters have on Black women’s identity formation and moral anthropologies and Christian ethics more generally. Framing erotic care as a form of regenerative healing in the tradition of the ministry of Jesus, it expands upon theologian Mark I. Wallace’s concept of theology of touch, arguing for erotic care of the soul as a collaboration between spirit and flesh that erotically imparts new meaning to Black flesh and usurps empire’s claims on Black bodies. Through loving haptic practices, sexual and nonsexual, I contend erotic care of the soul engenders corporeal conscientization that heals the wound of unworthiness inflicted upon Black women by society, accomplishing an epistemological shift in their approaches to identity and the mobilization of their moral agency.