Witnessing PANAAWTM’s Embodied Praxis of Solidarity

Lu reflects on her transformative experience with PANAAWTM as a first-generation Kachin feminist theologian. Her 2017 introduction to PANAAWTM affirmed her identity and inspired her co-authored chapter on Kachin feminist theology, which centers Indigenous cultural knowledge over colonial missionary Christianity. She credits the mentorship, scholarship, and community within PANAAWTM--including leaders like Kwok Pui-lan and Chung Hyun Kyung--with shaping her academic and theological journey, particularly her transnational and decolonial work. Her current research addresses issues of identity, displacement, and belonging among Kachin refugees, exploring how global migration and oppression intertwine. She emphasizes the need to move beyond US-centric frameworks in theology, advocating for a truly transnational feminist approach that confronts structural violence, such as that experienced in post-coup Myanmar. She calls for PANAAWTM to continue amplifying silenced voices and embodying theological solidarity across geopolitical and cultural boundaries.

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