De/Cyphering the Menu: The Flavors of PANAAWTM-Style Mentoring

Schwartz reflects on the intergenerational, embodied, and justice-oriented mentoring style of PANAAWTM. Drawing on personal experience as both mentee and mentor, Schwartz describes PANAAWTM-style mentoring as a process of de/cyphering--decoding the often inaccessible "menu" of academia while also participating in a "cypher," a hip-hop-inspired, communal, improvisational learning space. PANAAWTM's landmark text Off the Menu guided her in developing an Asian/American theological voice grounded in liberation and embodiment. Conferences prioritized nourishment--both literal and intellectual--centering food, rest, and resistance as theological acts. Mentoring within PANAAWTM challenges hierarchical academic norms and fosters collaborative knowledge production across generations. Influenced by scholars like Kwok Pui-lan and Nami Kim, she emphasizes the importance of mutual care and postcolonial solidarity. While acknowledging room for growth, She affirms PANAAWTM's mentoring as a living praxis--fluid, disruptive, and rooted in collective healing, justice, and transformation. It is a dynamic model for thriving in and beyond academia.

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Stable URL: https://doi.org/10.2979/jfs.00059

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