Hosted by Wabash Center Director, Nancy Lynne Westfield, Ph.D.
Conversations with faculty teaching religion and theology in a wide range of institutional contexts.
Illuminating the teaching life and amplifying the Wabash Center’s mission.
Body indicators such as nose, hair, and flesh tones are relied upon for the perpetuation of prejudice, bias, and presumed privilege. What would it mean to unlearn, then relearn more liberative ways of reading the body? Can the truncated imagination which only sees value in the white body be rekindled to see worth in all bodies? The featured speakers for this event will be Dr. Melanie Harris (Texas Christian University) and Dr. Jennifer Harvey (Drake University).
The everyday pressure of racist climates wears upon the body, mind and soul of teachers. What practices of health, wellness, and self-care might prolong the life of a scholar in a racist, toxic, climate? The featured speakers for this event will be Dr. Melanie Harris (Texas Christian University) and Dr. Jennifer Harvey (Drake University).
Dismantling the systems and healing the wounds of racism requires a communal effort. What habits, strategies, and practices might a school undertake to learn together anti-racist work? The featured speakers for this event will be Dr. Melanie Harris (Texas Christian University) and Dr. Jennifer Harvey (Drake University).
Why don’t white people know the tenets, behaviors, patterns, and core values of racism? What’s at stake for not knowing? What practices, rules, and policies might a faculty agree upon to combat white surprise? Dr. Nancy Lynne Westfield will host Dr. Melanie Harris (Texas Christian University) and Dr. Jennifer Harvey (Drake University).
Dismantling the systems and healing the wounds of racism requires a communal effort. What habits, strategies, and practices might a school undertake to learn together anti-racist work? The featured speakers for this event will be Dr. Melanie Harris (Texas Christian University) and Dr. Jennifer Harvey (Drake University).
In what forms does racism show itself in faculty cultures? What does it take to identify the performance of racism before it happens and while it happens? What can be done to combat the visible and invisible practices of racism in a faculty? The conversation with Dr. Melanie Harris and Dr. Jennifer Harvey will be hosted by Dr. Nancy Lynne Westfield.
White America must challenge its high capacity to tolerate racism, to overlook racist acts, and to look past racist behaviors. Personal agency is required to become anti-racist. Disrupting systemic racism requires a shift in public policies as well as a rethinking of institutional norms, traditions, and procedures. These shifts require the work of dedicated people. Equally, personal agency is required to genuinely welcome persons targeted by racism. To shift personal and familial attitudes, beliefs and behaviors persons must speak out for justice. This requires education and action. Our questions for this webinar:
• If racism is so pervasive as to be like “smog in the air” (Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum) – how do we identify acts of racism?
• What does it mean to be complicit with racism?
• What kind of listening is needed to become anti-racist?
• Is there such-a-thing as “microaggression?”
In this time of uncertainty and grief, religious leaders need new and old imaginations to unleash the power of liturgy and sermons to heal, comfort, and inspire. What intellectual, spiritual and creative wells can be drawn upon to address the suffering of the people? Dr. Nancy Lynne Westfield hosts Dr. Lisa L. Thompson (Vanderbilt University) and Dr. Richard Voelz (Union Presbyterian Seminary).
