An Afrocentric reading of the uncharacteristic request for love by the woman in the Song of Songs

Abstract

The request for love and initiating love exchanges by the woman in the Song of Songs deviates from the norms of the day. Reading such audacity as promoting a feminine agenda perhaps says more about the reader’s world than the world of the text. Nevertheless, in determining meaning there is an interplay between the world in the text, the world outside the text and the world of the reader. Adding an Afrocentric perspective to this dynamic opens the door for mutually enriching perspectives, in which ancient texts and modern African culture may be understood differently. Some steps in this direction are indicated.