Feminist Inquiry in the Sociology of Religion 289
In addition to her focus on the standpoint of black women, Collins differs from
Smith in that she claims the value of alternative traditions, local knowledges which
produce theorizing, often in narrative forms. She calls generations of black women,
storytellers, writers, and activists organic intellectuals who offer forms of knowledge
outside the circle of sociological insiders, but who have much to offer us, if we would
listen to them. While Smith is not sure that knowledge as such can be transformative,
and perceives a kind of division of labor between sociologists who reveal the relations of
ruling and activists who use that knowledge to produce social change, Collins sees her
project of voicing Black Feminist Thought as emancipatory.^14 Collins believes that local
knowledges can offer resistance to the dominant knowledge. Her understanding of the
importance of local knowledges as tools for resisting the dominant culture is especially
useful to sociologists of religion to help us reframe how we think about “religions of
the disinherited” or religions of countercultural groups.
Both Smith and Collins write against positivism. What they offer is a different kind
of “theory.” Rather than a totalizing theory, they offer a method of inquiry. They both
offer a vision of sociology that is interested; that is critical. They contend that to be
objective is to maintain the relations of ruling.^15 They both understand that writers
as well as subjects are located, and that location matters.^16 In the next section, three
examples demonstrate this kind of feminist inquiry in the sociology of religion.
BEGINNING IN THE LOCATION OF WOMEN
Beginning in the location of women requires a reorientation in the sociology of religion.
It means moving outside the domain of pastors, public religion, formal organizations,
denominational creed, and organizations. It suggests more attention to devotional prac-
tices, wider cultural discourse, bridging boundaries, and moving between public and
private. It suggests more attention to religious practices and to religion outside the in-
stitutions. In this section, I discuss three recent works which are particularly rich in
their implications for feminist work in the sociology of religion.
Nancy Nason-Clark: Breaking the Silence
Nancy Nason-Clark provides an important example of a scholar-activist whose work
starts with the location of women. Nason-Clark’s work has focused on examining
wife abuse within the context of the Protestant churches in the Maritime Provinces
(^14) Collins (1997) argues that while Smith’s critique of the relations of ruling is powerful, Smith
does not attend to the ways that subjugated knowledge provides alternatives.
(^15) Sandra Harding’s (1986) notion of “strong objectivity” is useful here.
(^16) To quote Smith: “The project of inquiry from the standpoint of women is always reflexive.
Also, it is always about ourselves as inquirers – not just in our personal selves, but our selves as
participants. The metaphor of insider and outsider contains an ambiguity that I should be more
watchful of, for I disagree...that there is an outside in society....As I have used the metaphor,
I want to stress that those outside places are inside. In the sense I’m trying to capture there are
no modes of investigation other than those beginning from within....Established sociology
has powerful ways of writing the social into the text, which produce society as seen from an
Archimedes point. A sociology for women says: “You can’t have that wish.” There is no other
way than beginning from the actual social relations in which we are participants. This fact can
be concealed but not avoided” (1992: 94).