Draft:Mujerista theology

Mujerista theology is a methodology for liberation developed by the late theologian and activist Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz. As a liberate praxis Mujerista theology is sourced from the everyday experiences of Latinas. Mujerista theology emerges from the principle "struggle is life" (la vida es la lucha). "La Vida de Lucha" acknowledges the everyday strife of Latina women, and the need for a platform that creates a voice and space for Latina Women to advocate and challenge the ways in which Christian tradition oppresses Latina women.

Origins
Mujerista as a term emerged from the need of a group of Hispanic/Latinx/Latine Christian theologians to name themselves that was grounded in their experiences. The aim was also an effort to differentiate their work from Anglo-centric Feminism, to which Hispanas struggled to identify with its purpose and agenda. It’s root word mujer, is the Spanish word for woman. One of its founding proponents, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz resisted defining the term as a concept, at the risk of limiting it to a list of principles. Isasi Diaz used descriptors, context, and methodology to frame what mujerista looks like. It's goal is to invite Latinas from different backgrounds and experiences to participate in building Mujerista theology as a tool. Isasi-Diaz stated her intention for the term to remain fluid to include the diverse experiences of Hispanic women in Latin America and the United States. In simple terms, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz writes, “a mujerista is a Hispanic woman who struggles to liberate herself not as an individual but as a member of a Hispanic community.”   The task of a mujerista is to close the gaps within the Hispanic community by giving voice to the common longing for justice and peace.

Critiques
In her response to the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion Roundtable, Sandra Mangual-Rodriguez names the ways in which music, such as salsa and merengue, have historically used the word mujer in pejorative ways.

On the same article, theologian and ordained Protestant minister Daisy L. Machado calls for a space for protestant Latinas, naming Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz's framework exclusive to the experiences of Catholic women.

Lourdes Arguelles and Raven-Anne Rivero jointly respond to the emergence of the term mujerista as one that is yet to push back to the cultural notions of "heterosexism and anthropocentrism" making way for the stories of lesbian and bisexual Latinas to be included.