Stephanie Y. Mitchem

Stephanie Y. Mitchem (born 1950) is an American scholar of religious studies and African American studies. Her teaching and research focuses on the African-American religious experience, womanist theology, and the religions of the African diaspora.

Mitchem was the first woman to graduate from Sacred Heart Seminary in her native Detroit and has served as the chair of the Department of Religious Studies and the director of the African American Studies Program at the University of South Carolina. She is the author of four books, an edited volume, and several scholarly articles.

Early life Stephanie Mitchem was born in 1950 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Barbara Jean Crews Mitchem and Thomas Theodore Mitchem, separated following her father's struggles with alcoholism. Stephanie was raised in Detroit with her younger brothers, Thomas (deceased) and Timothy. The family attended a Black Catholic congregation. Her mother worked as a police officer and was a strict and demanding parent.

After dropping out of Eastern Michigan, Mitchem worked as a community organizer. She married Stanley Noyes Lowe Jr. and briefly moved to New York where her daughter, Barbra Lowe, was born in 1979. However, the marriage did not last and Mitchem returned to Detroit in 1980 with her daughter. There, as a single parent, she worked for the Catholic Diocese of Detroit as a mediator. At the same time, she returned to school and completed an undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary in 1985. Mitchem was the first woman to graduate from the seminary.

Four years later, in 1989, she completed a Master of Theological Arts at St. John's Provincial Seminary.

With the encouragement of Delores S. Williams, Mitchem enrolled in a doctoral program at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on the Northwestern University campus. Mitchem completed her doctoral degree in philosophy at Garrett in 1998,

Career After completing her doctoral degree, Mitchem continued to teach at the University of Detroit Mercy. Mitchem taught in Detroit Mercy's Religious Studies department from 1993 to 2005. She also chaired the Department of Religious Studies from 2008 to 2014.

In 2023, while serving as Interim Chair of the university's Women and Gender Studies department, Mitchem led a grant-funded program to celebrate the department's 50th anniversary.

As an educator, Mitchem's courses examined topics such as the African American religious experience, African American feminist studies, religions of the African Diaspora, religion and healing, and feminist theory. As a public speaker, Mitchem addresses topics relevant to African American culture and social injustices.

Theology Stephanie Mitchem's scholarly work is informed by Womanist, anthropological, and ethnographic approaches. She centers the experiences of Black women in her work in contrast to approaches that start from the vantage points of white cultural norms.

Her work also examines misogyny and homophobia in the Black church. Raised as a Black Catholic, she expresses an appreciation for the rituals of Catholic liturgy and observes that this background led her to explore African religions.

In her article, "No longer nailed to the floor," Mitchem notes that Womanist scholars helped her speak honestly about her experiences and to be true to the experiences of other Black women. For Mitchem, this was intellectually and spiritually freeing and fortifying, but also an exposure to pain. Although these experiences led Mitchem to center on the writings and thoughts of other Black women, she eschews labels and has observed that "Womanist" and "Black feminist" are not globally recognized terms and are less often used on the African continent.

Writings Mitchem is the author of four books, an edited volume, and several scholarly chapters and articles.

Studying the varieties of "prosperity churches" in Black communities, Mitchem describes how these churches provide a cultural response to racism and poverty.

Examines the intersections of faith and health in community.

Chapters

Articles

Impact Stephanie Mitchem has served on the editorial board of the publication, CrossCurrents, and received the Wise Woman Award from the National Association of Women in Catholic Higher Education. Mitchem is also the subject of book chapter focused on her work as a scholar of religion.