(Re)membering self-love

This qualitative study explores how experiences during a writing retreat in Ghana, West Africa, helped reframe self-love. First, I define “(Re)membering,” then present Endarkened Feminist Epistemology and nkwaethnography as the framework and methodology that ground it. I draw upon “(Re)membering” as a lens through which I discovered misconceptions of self-love and recognized the “seduction [to] forget” wholeness. A thematic analysis of journal data, videos, and photos precedes prose, poetry, and original paintings, one of which employs visual grammar principles. The original art offers symbolic illustrations of the ongoing work (re)membering requires. Findings center (re)membering truths about my identity, my people, my community of women, and my professional calling. This work adds to the growing scholarship about the significant role African ascendants’ memories play in framing, sustaining, and modeling self-love.