Cast of \u201cP-Valley.\u201d Photo courtesy of Starz<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe depictions of spirituality in the show, however, are not just stand-ins for Black church. When Diamond, the club\u2019s former security guard and trained practitioner of Hoodoo, gives the exotic dancer Keyshawn a necklace decorated with a stone belonging to a dead serviceman for strength, or when he later uses\u00a0rootwork to help Mercedes recover from an injury, he summons a deeper history of Black spirituality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that our ancestors brought their spiritual practices and beliefs to this country, merging them with their knowledge of the earth in order to survive, is a testament to our resilience and our Africanness,\u201d Hall tweeted.<\/p>\n
Kaila Story, associate professor of women\u2019s, gender and sexuality studies at the University of Louisville, said the mix of folk religion and Christianity \u201cshows what three-dimensional and robust Black Southern living is, as opposed to these stereotypes and controlled images of Black Southern life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drama also shows how formal sacred places can be made profane. Pastor Patrice Woodbine, played by Harriett D. Foy, seemingly has a genuine heart for her congregants. \u201cThese streets know my knees. And these folks \u2014 the tired, the hungry, the poor \u2014 they know my soul,\u201d Woodbine declares. But she is also ready to abuse her position to maneuver for political power.<\/p>\n
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Actor Harriett D. Foy as pastor Patrice Woodbine in \u201cP-Valley.\u201d Video screen grab via Starz<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWoodbine\u2019s by-any-means-necessary journey to the pastorate \u2014 she starts her own church, making calculated decisions along the way \u2014 may call her judgment into question but also addresses how women in ministry are edged out of leadership roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the complicated thing (Hall)\u2019s trying to get us to examine by using Patrice Woodbine as an effigy for these things and an amalgamation of all these issues,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cShe\u2019s a complex character, but she is that force that we have to reckon with in terms of what does it mean to be Black, woman-bodied and Christian, and to deal with all the complicated legacies of this particular faith practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall\u2019s refusal to make Woodbine either completely evil or sufficiently good is a hallmark of the show, letting no one, even critics of religion, off the hook. But so is Woodbine\u2019s insistence on creating her own space for sacredness. Setting a show in adult entertainment, Hall redefines what sacred space can be and who gets to create it.<\/p>\n
For secularized modern viewers, more importantly, it examines what sacred space is for in the first place. \u201cIt complicates and nuances this idea of what we as Americans understand as the profane,\u201d Story said. \u201cThe Pynk, even though it\u2019s a strip club, almost serves as a waystation for lost souls, souls that are in need of family, need of love, need of community. The Pynk does that for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was produced as part of the\u00a0RNS\/IA Religious Journalism Fellowship Program<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n