Black Sufi Women in America: Spiritual Healing, Institute Building, and Reclaiming Ancestral Rights

Date of Award

12-2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Interdisciplinary Studies

First Advisor

Alisa M. Perkins Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Vincent Lyon-Callo Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Stephen Covell Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Jill Hermann-Wilmarth Ph.D.

Keywords

African American Muslims, African Diaspora, Black Muslim Women, Black Sufi Muslims, Islam, Sufism

Abstract

This interdisciplinary storytelling project utilizes a griot approach, blending narratives, social science, and poetic inquiry to explore the everyday experiences of Black American Sufi women at the intersections of race, gender, religion, class, and spiritual healing. The data for this project is based on two-and-a-half years of ethnographic research, including participant observation, autoethnography, the griot method, and semi-structured interviews with 50 participants. The study comprises 30 primary interviews with Black and Indigenous Sufi women who are current or former residents of the Detroit and Chicago areas, as well as their surrounding suburbs. Additionally, 20 secondary interviews were conducted with men, including religious leaders and members of the Black Sufi Muslim communities, for contextual purposes. This work centers on the following central question: How do Black Sufi women living in Detroit and Chicago utilize the meditative, prayer, and community healing elements of their religion to navigate racial trauma, reclaim ancestral and spiritual lineages, and construct social identities in their daily lives? To address that central question, this work takes up the following five lines of inquiry: (1) How do Black Sufi women like myself negotiate their religious identities within their family life, including their identities within the home, work environment, community, and within nuclear and extended families? (2) How do Black women choose Sufism, and how does this relate to their journeys within Islam? (3) How do members of Black Sufi Muslim communities, like the one I belong to, articulate transnational spiritual connections through travel practices, and how do these journeys preserve heritage, foster resilience, and deepen religious devotion across generations? (4) How do Black Sufi Muslim women leverage their entrepreneurial, spiritual, and educational expertise to build institutions, create networks, and foster both online and in-person communities within and beyond their Muslim communities? (5) How do Black Sufi women draw on religious identity and community building to address experiences of racism and exclusion they encounter both within the dominant U.S. society and within Muslim American minority communities, especially among Muslims who trace their ancestry abroad, excluding or marginalizing African American Muslims? This study affirms that the spiritual lives of Black Sufi practitioners are not peripheral but central to broader discussions of Black religious thought, resistance, and communal care. By centering their voices, this interdisciplinary storytelling on Black Sufi women in America calls for a deeper understanding of Sufism as a theological and sociopolitical force within the African Diaspora. This research highlights the significance of spiritual healing as a necessary response to the racial trauma and systematic dehumanization faced by Black Muslims in America. This research demonstrates that transnationalism is crucial in providing temporary escape and spiritual rejuvenation. In doing so, it illustrates how Sufi orders in the United States encompass a holistic socio-economic and educational model that reinforces the idea that religious identity, communal well-being, and transnational connections are deeply intertwined in the struggle for healing and self-determination.

Comments

Fifth advisor: Richard H. Oxhandler, Ph.D.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Abstract Only

Restricted to Campus until

1-1-2035

This document is currently not available here.

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