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January 01, 1970
January 01, 1970
Or, hiring of Latinx scholars happens, and they are effectively marginalized and silenced…Hiring is not enough, without institutional commitment at all levels
Could you list some of the racial and ethnic scholars you’d like to see people read? I agree with your article, and believe it’s something seminaries should consider, but it’s a rather useless endeavor if you don’t include the names of the scholars that should be on those reading lists. Give us some help, and not just with New Testament. Who should we be reading?
Google is your friend. Ironically, those who are committed to serious research are unwilling to use the most rudimentary tools to find the many, many scholars that they go to extremes to avoid. Also, go to the Society for Biblical Literature website. This is not obscure knowledge. And it is not Professor De La Torre’s responsibility to spoon-feed this information.
It is literally Professor De La Torre’s job to spoon-feed people exactly this sort of information. We call it a “syllabus.”
Thank you very much for this post. I am a white male religion professor, and while I know and value the work of a variety of diverse scholars for my own reading and research (Sugirtharajah, Musa Dube, Segovia, K. K. Yeo, Ajith Fernando, Kwok Pui-Lan, Kosuke Koyama), I have a very hard time finding pieces by them that are intellectually and theologically accessible to undergraduate students at my distinctively evangelical and Wesleyan institution. Some of their writing bears ideologies of scripture that would cause our students to reject what they have to say out of hand. Others are writing at a level of sophistication and style above most of our undergraduates. I’ve tried a few things in the past (e.g. Clarice Martin’s piece on the Haustafeln) but found that the end result was that it actually turned students off to engaging diverse voices in biblical interpretation because of these challenges. Do you have any recommendations for readings that might be pedagogically appropriate for this audience? I’d be most grateful.
Look for scholars who have written pieces specifically for the church — check the Cokesbury catalog.
I am reading the ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ and I see a lot of similarity between the comments you have mentioned and several of the experiences of what is experienced as Latin in predominantly American seminars where the voice of those who are not the majority is silenced. I think part of the work of Latinos in religious areas is to organize well to ensure that the future of “the academy” not only includes the voice of more Latinx but how you mentioned, that the systematic structure of how you work in these environments changes so that instead of simply being “inclusive” the normal practice is to consider the perspective of communities of color. As much as you can help, let me know! Dtb
Important admonition here. I had a similar educational experience concerning my exposure and learning, making the uphill climb much more steep. Our loosely organised cohort (Myself, Richard Twiss and Terry LeBlanc) put the challenge to some of our professors during our PhD studies that they should include scholars of color in their texts and several actually responded positively. As persons of color, it was unfortunately, incumbent upon us to take this burden on in order to educate our professors. Some actually did thank us for it. I don’t know about Ivy League schools, I teach at CCC school, (which are already woefully lacking in FOC and text by SOC) but I am definitely sensing the climate changing back to more social conservatism and those Faculty of Color who have been the most vocal concerning the type message Miguel has laid out here, are the ones being targeted to be pushed out, regardless of tenure. In the end, there is no end in sight…the struggle continues…
You’re telling my story Professor. I just got my B.S in Human Development and am getting ready to go for my Masters in Intercultural Communication. I’ve walked through a lot of darkness before I became a grassroots community organizer for 20 years working with People of Color and immigrants and Refugees.
I was called to take this path and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
At 56, I had to get over the fact that as a Native American,Mexican American student that simply because I hadn’t been in school a long time that every one else was now learning the real history instead of the one that was created by folks who don’t look like me.
No one wants to go there- But we have to , peacefully, if we ever want to obtain Justice. Justice is God’s word, a level above everything we could ask or expect, but we have been promised this by the Creator. Thank you for your words.
And to think that even today, with all the evolution of humanity there is still this kind of discrimination. Unfortunate. Congratulations on your article.
A scathing assessment of theological education in America! I graduated from seminary in 1984 (Vanderbilt Divinity School), and even then I noted liberalism does not mean liberation. Sadly, the American Theological Academy remains committed to the idolatry of white supremacy. Thank you Dr. De La Torre for your courage and brilliant articulation of the continuing dilemma of Western Christianity, even among the so-called liberal expressions.!