Journey Towards Reimagination: Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion by Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Grace Ji-Sun Kim will be presenting at our teleconference July 10th on “Colonialism, Han, and the Transformative Spirit”
Originally Posted on Feminist Studies in Religion
Much of my personal life intersects with race, religion, and gender issues. In some ways, the word intersects is too gentle. Perhaps collide better captures what occurs in my life as an Asian North American woman theologian, writer, minister, and mother. As I try to engage in theological dialogue, live in community with the dominant, unfamiliar culture, and raise my kids with concerns on how to be just in this world, I realize that the lives of all people, especially people of color, collide and clash with others on the critical issues of race, religion, and gender.
Due to such clashes and collisions on critical issues, it is important for scholars of color to come together to discuss new ideas, concepts, and thoughts on handlingsuch encounters. This was the vision of my friends, Drs. Miguel De la Torre (Iliff School of Theology), Stacey Floyd-Thomas (Vanderbilt), and Anthony Pinn (Rice University), who had the foresight to begin such a forum in the form of the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (SRER). Scholars of color are doing important scholarship which should not be ignored by the wider academy. Scholars of color must continue to work with each other to express concerns, issues, and the importance of scholarship from a different perspective of the minoritized, as well as to continue working through mainstream journals, classes, schools, and professional societies. Solidarity must be reaffirmed and encouraged. The cross pollination of scholarship must be encouraged, and now there is a venue where peer review is done by true peers.