AAR 2019 Workshop: Ethnography, Theology, and Intersectionality

Ethnography, Theology, and Intersectionality

Theodore Hickman-Maynard, Boston University, Presiding

Monday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire 411A (Fourth Level)

Theological ethnographies of ecclesial practices are increasingly attending to dynamics of power and privilege. Theories of Intersectionality – which analyze how social identities are both situated within dynamic matrices of oppression and privilege and are constituted by ideological, economic and political systems of power – have much to offer to this conversation. This panel looks both at how intersectionality can provide an analytic frame for interpreting Christian practice and how it can help orient Christian practices towards ethical ends.
Papers explore black women’s ministry in predominantly White, Presbyterian, Southern communities; peacemaking interventions of marginalized faith communities in Colombian war-zones; and stewardship as practiced by women at the intersections of religion, race, class, and gender, as they also navigate experiences of domestic violence.
Nancy J. Ramsay, leading expert on intersectionality, Christian practice and Pastoral theology and care will respond.

• Sheryl Johnson, Graduate Theological Union
  “Feminist” Fundraising?: Women’s Economic Practices and Christian Stewardship
• Perzavia Praylow, Lenoir-Rhyne University
  Carrying the Load: Black Women Ruling Elders and the Enduring Mission and Sustainability of African American Presbyterian Churches in Rural South Carolina
• Janna Hunter-Bowman, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
  Tracing Borders of Constraint as Intersectional Analysis

Responding:
Nancy J. Ramsay, Texas Christian University

Business Meeting:
Natalie Wigg-Stevenson, Emmanuel College

Click here for an overview of all workshops organized by the Ecclesial Practices Unit at the AAR 2019.