By Jamie Lee Andreson. Matriarchy, understood as Black women’s leadership, has been a central criterion in public debates on leadership, race and gender in the West African derived Candomblé religion in Brazil. In Candomblé, matriarchy expresses a counterpoint to the explicit historical patriarchy of the Brazilian Catholic Church. The female leadership of Candomblé priestesses of […]
By Sharon Jacob. In her seminal essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Gayatri C. Spivak points out that the subaltern cannot speak not because, “the subaltern cannot pronounce words or produce sentences. The subaltern “cannot speak,” instead, because her speech falls short of fully authorized, political speech. Too much gets in the way of her message’s being heard, socially […]
By Sharon Jacob. In many cultures, mass-suicides have been used as a form of protest against foreign colonization. In India, the ritual of Jauhar was traditionally performed by upper caste Rajput women that immolated themselves by jumping into flames together. Lakshana N. Palat describes the ritual in detail writing, “At night, they would dress in […]
By Leah Elizabeth Comeau. My research is situated at the intersection of the fields of religious history and of material culture. Geographically, I work in South Asia, especially Tamil South India and I utilize an intersectional feminist framework to approach modern and medieval expressions of religion. In my work, I routinely encounter scholars of anthropology, […]
By Grace Ji-Sun Kim. “There is no greater agony, than bearing an untold story inside you” – Maya Angelou The written word is a powerful source of change; it moves people, drawing them out of their familiar realities and bringing them into new ones, imagined and true. It lures us to question what we know […]
By Lai-shan Yip. In February, I participated in a consultation on “South and Southeast Asian Churches Reponses to Human Sexuality and Gender Minorities” sponsored by the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) in collaboration with other ecumenical and non-government organizations in Bangalore, India. I found significance in the theme of extending the queer concern […]
Discussion of the diaconate for Catholic women is in vogue and in need of some new thinking. Whether it will be a permanent or transitional diaconate, whether there is historical precedent for it or not, what women deacons might actually do if given the opportunity, whether this is a power grabby would-be feminist clerics, etc. […]
Panel: Decolonizing the Study of Religion: Future Directions from the Work of Karen McCarthy Brown. Event: 2016 Frederick A. Shippey Lecture. When: April 12th, 6:00-7:30 PM. Where: Drew University, Madison, NJ. Livestream: Option to attend via live stream broadcast. Official Posting (http://www.drew.edu/calendar/event/2016-frederick-a-shippey-lecture/): 2016 Frederick A. Shippey Lecture April 12 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Decolonizing the Study of Religion: Future Directions from […]
By Jenny Daggers and Grace Ji-Sun Kim. Feminist theology has been growing and emerging globally as women are fighting for equality within church and society. There are many areas within theology that need to be critiqued, reimagined and reconstructed. One area is church doctrine – the authorized teachings of the churches that are passed on […]
By Mónica Maher. A religious colonial capital of Latin America, San Francisco de Quito is a monolithic Roman Catholic city in the hegemonic imagination. Yet, it is filled with religious diversity which reflects dynamic, socio-cultural processes linked to international movements for justice. The Spiritualities Project of the Foundation Museums of Quito conceptualized by María Fernanda […]