BORN TO BELONGING:
Writings on Spirit and Justice

In the 1990s, Born to Belonging took the readers along on Mab Segrest’s global travels to view a world experiencing extraordinary change. In the words of feminist scholar Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Segrest wrote “eloquently and passionately about some of the most poignant questions of our times: justice in the context of capitalism; white supremacy, heterosexism, and misogyny; and the profound spiritual and psychic struggles and possibilities open to those who dare this journey.” The book’s title comes from the South African principle of Ubuntu–that we all belong to the human community. Segrest’s destinations included the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing; the Atlanta Olympics in a city experiencing rapid gentrification; fledgling gay rights struggles in Zimbabwe; Elvis and MLK in Memphis; and early legal support for gay marriage arising from Kanaka Maoli struggles for sovereignty in Hawai’i.

In the chapter “Of Soul and White Folks,” Segrest continued her lifelong interrogation of the spiritual cost of racism to white people. In “Requiem for My Brother” she took a sister’s struggle with her dying brother to the grave and beyond in an insistence on dignity and mutual acceptance.  

The purpose of this work has always been to create a world in which all are born to belonging –in what Mohanty named “a brave, luminous, ground-breaking book.”