WHAT GOD IS HONORED HERE?
Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color
What God Is Honored Here? is the first book of its kind—and urgently necessary. This is a literary collection of voices of Indigenous women and women of color who have undergone miscarriage and infant loss, experiences that disproportionately affect women who have often been cast toward the margins in the United States of America.
In its heartbreaking beauty, this book offers an integral perspective on how culture and religion, spirit and body, unite in the reproductive lives of women of color and Indigenous women as they bear witness to loss, search for what is not there,
What God Is Honored Here? is the first book of its kind—and urgently necessary. This is a literary collection of voices of Indigenous women and women of color who have undergone miscarriage and infant loss, experiences that disproportionately affect women who have often been cast toward the margins in the United States of America.
In its heartbreaking beauty, this book offers an integral perspective on how culture and religion, spirit and body, unite in the reproductive lives of women of color and Indigenous women as they bear witness to loss, search for what is not there, and claim for themselves and others their fundamental humanity. Powerfully and with brutal honesty, they write about what it means to reclaim life in the face of death.
- University of Minnesota Press
- Paperback
- October 2019
- 256 Pages
- 9781517907938
Buy the Book
$19.95
About Shannon Gibney & Kao Kalia Yang
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, activist, and the author of two YA novels: See No Color, which won the Minnesota Book Award in Young People’s Literature, and Dream Country.
Kao Kalia Yang is author of The Latehomecomer, winner of two Minnesota Book Awards and a finalist for two national awards, and The Song Poet, winner of a Minnesota Book Award and a finalist for several national awards.
Praise
“Pregnancy loss is a most enigmatic human sorrow, unique to every woman who suffers it. These stories of resilience, grief, and restoration are essential, for to understand is to heal.” —Louise Erdrich
“What God Is Honored Here? is the hardest and most important book I’ve read about parenting, loss, and imagination. It’s also the most frightening book in my world, but not because it is horrific: it is about the terrifying possibilities of love.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
“These writers have created a sacred space, a temple, in which the unspeakable can be shared. A book of astounding grace and strength.” —Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do
Discussion Questions
1. What is the significance of the title of the collection? What do you think the space of “here” refers to for the women in this anthology?
2. How does this book speak to the times we are living in and the conditions and realities of the lives of Native Women and Women of Color?
3. What are the advantages of putting together a collection of voices as opposed to these women individually writing and publishing their individual stories? What are the disadvantages?
4. This book sheds light on a tragic reality in America: miscarriage and infant loss disproportionately affect Women of Color and Native Women in this country. What can we do to alleviate and/or address this problem?
5. If you had to choose one piece from this book to speak to the collection as a whole, which story or poem would you choose and why?
6. In this collection, we see women from a wide margin of society contending with pregnancy loss and infant death. What is the role of your religion, culture, and/or beliefs in guiding your response to these stories?
7. Is it possible to heal from the traumas of pregnancy loss and infant death?
8. Have the experiences of miscarriage and infant loss impacted your own life and altered your stories? How?
9. How do the men in your life deal with miscarriage and infant loss? What does this reveal about the different ways our societies and cultures treat men and women in these situations? What about individuals who are gender queer?
10. How does this collection speak to the power of love in women’s lives?