Deirdre Jonese Austin

There’s been a lot of talk and discussion about the Black Church and Black churches lately. As someone who earned a certificate in Black Church Studies, I figured I’d share a snapshot of some of the books in the “Black Church and related topics” section of my bookshelf.

Revisiting Tamura Lomax’s “Jezebel Unhinged” for a piece on that new Tyler Perry movie, and everything she said about his movies definitely applies to this new one.

I’m watching Ruth and Boaz. They made Boaz a kind, church going, good looking, educated man, on top of him being wealthy. The girlies about to be out here looking for their Boaz again. (Aside from owning land, this ain’t the Boaz from the Bible.) I do appreciate Naomi’s grief journey though.

It’s also why the film I’m making to accompany my dissertation centers the stories of Black women pole dancers who have grown up in dance ministries and are still actively involved in church spaces.

This is also why a chapter of my dissertation focuses on theology. I explore what it means to be a Christian and a pole dancer and how that is both shaped by and shapes theology.

I posted my second worship pole dance video on TikTok, and the super Christians are coming for me. But it’s only the Black super Christians. I’d be interested in whether race matters and also whether denomination matters in how people respond.

did not write fiction before I started my PhD program. Now, I’ve finished two short stories, and I’m working on a novel.

But also, writing a creative nonfiction essay is both easier and more enjoyable for me than writing a more traditional journal article. The longer I’m in academia, the more it feels like my brain is rejecting academic writing.

I’ve spent the last few weeks working on a conference proposal, a fellowship application, and a short story. Tonight I also started a creative nonfiction essay for an academic journal. I want to be able to write across platforms and to a wide range of audiences.

I was going to finish drafting materials for a fellowship application today, but after my after church nap, I think I’m done with work for the weekend. On the bright side, I have a sense of my dissertation argument and what my chapters will look like.

I’m also thinking about what it means to be a Black church & choose to opt out of politics because you perceive everything as a spiritual attack. The Kingdom of God as Christians promote it today is often different than the radical and political Kingdom of God that Jesus preached about.

Some would say that those churches wouldn’t be considered “the Black Church” because they don’t have a Black theology, but I think it’s important to wrestle with the number of churches w/ majority Black congregants & cultural practices that often promote anti-Black theologies.

One critique of the idea of “the Black Church” is that there have always been Black churches that have at times adapted anti-Black ideologies. Liberation has looked different for different churches, & not all churches have been invested in a radical & prophetic liberatory vision.

I wasn’t going to say anything about Charlie Kirk on Facebook but then I remembered that I was born and raised in the South and attended two Trump-supporting nondenominational churches, one Black and one white. I got tired of them talking about that man’s “Christian” faith.

And the even sadder part is that he goes to one of the largest churches in my hometown.

Like David’s dance, pole dance is disruptive, and I’m invested in this disruption.

Full sermon linked here: youtu.be/wrvc79XSvTY?...

I was talking w/ my mom the other day about how people will say they want me to come preach when they hear that I’m a minister. I am a very particular type of preacher. I’m not for everybody’s church. I am grateful for spaces where I can be the full person God called me to be!

a woman in a blue skirt is dancing with the words overtime baby 100 written on the bottom . ALT: a woman in a blue skirt is dancing with the words overtime baby 100 written on the bottom .

I preached on liturgical dance and pole dance. I preached on David’s disruptive dance. I talked about the history of Christians and dance. I affirmed stripping as art that can be sacred from the pulpit. I recruited a few people to pole dance in the process.

I don’t know if what I’m doing is producing new knowledge but I’m amplifying new voices and stories and bringing the lives of the Black women I’ve met in my research and Black women like myself to the forefront.

If I never get a major grant or fellowship, I’m going to finish this project and publish this project and make sure that it’s accessible because I know that it matters to the public, even if it doesn’t matter to the academy.

And yet my research and the way that I write about it & embody it are touching people & resonating with people. Last academic one was full of anxiety for me. I cried a lot, and started to have chest pain. I’m in a better place now because the work is going to get done regardless.

All of the opportunities I’ve had this summer to share my work have reminded me that it’s worth it. Other than a few internal grants, I’ve literally been rejected from every grant and fellowship I’ve applied for since I started my PhD program, as most of my cohort peers get 2-3.

I love preaching, and I think this sermon on my research is my favorite sermon I’ve written so far.

There are no real sources. There’s no system of accountability in terms of their study. I don’t speak on what God tells people to do but I also don’t listen to people whose knowledge is questionable. People just be trusting anyone with their spiritual lives.

I’ve had 2 people tell me that the pole dance poles is the modern-day Asherah pole in the Bible, and I finally went down that rabbit hole. It’s been shared by a number of fundamentalist Christians who claim God told them that or they’ve been studying the Bible for years.

Check out my piece for Faithfully Magazine on what Norman Gyamfi missed in his discussion of gospel music and the significance of gospel music in Black churches in the rural South that are virtually untouched by CCM.

www.faithfullymag.com/p/i-dont-kno...

No Longer Waiting For My Boaz I’ve been planning my wedding since I was a child. I’ve written out the details from the playlist to the location, occasionally updating it as I’ve gotten older. While all the details of the weddin…

While we talking about Ruth and Boaz, here’s my old blog post that continues to be the most viewed blog on my site. It’s about why I stopped “waiting for my Boaz” because that’s a misinterpretation of the text:
deirdrejoneseaustin.com/2023/02/28/n...

I need my inspiration for writing to stop coming after bedtime.

This is what I love about being an anthropologist. My research is dancing with people and then talking with them about their dance journeys and sometimes my own dance journey.

This week, my research looks like:
M: Church dance rehearsal
T: Pole Tricks n’ Transitions at Studio A
W: Pole 5 at Studio B
R: See A. (the boyfriend)
F: Twerk party at Studio A
Sat.: Organize data
Sun.: Do dance from Monday church dance rehearsal at church event