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Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Good afternoon and welcome to Webinar Wednesday, which is an outreach of education beyond the walls. You're at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Our topic for this afternoon is engaging

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our social locations in service to justice and I'm going to go ahead and move our slide forward um so that we can talk a little bit about what's ahead . Um So we've just had our welcome and we'll

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move in shortly to an opening reflection. I'll present a few ideas about social location, intersectionality and the ways in which those ideas relate to our work for justice. As christians. I'll also talk a little

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bit about some strategies that I think are helpful um to the work that we do together in community. I have a little bit of time for discussion, I'll share with you some references that I would encourage

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you to take a look at. Um they're all sources on which I draw um during our conversation together and the more close with prayer. So in terms of our opening reflection, I went ahead and listed

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three questions for us to consider. Um, as we start to root ourselves in this space and move out of whatever it was we were doing before before we got here. So why did I choose to

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participate in this webinar? What is calling me forth to consider these questions together? In addition, I'd like us to consider what gifts we bring to this conversation. What are what are the strengths? What

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are the abilities that God has shared with us? Um, that will help us navigate this conversation? And then lastly, what is the primary question I bring to this conversation? Okay, so our first

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slide introduces social location. In short, our social locations consist of the places in society. We occupy . Some aspects of social location include race or ethnicity , gender, sexual orientation, class, age,

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ability, religion, immigration status and regional identity. And this is not an exhaustive list. Uh, this is a list that just kind of introduce is the language of social location in a way that I

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hope is accessible and we can take a moment and just kind of consider. All right, which which aspects of social location resonate with me. What racial identity do I occupy? What gender am I?

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What's my sexual orientation and so on and so forth . And I think this question of why it's important to be aware of our social locations is significant for the work that we do in service for justice.

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Um are the first reason I think that is the case is that our social locations can affect how we read the word and read the world. I imagine that many of you are familiar with the work that

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paolo Ferri has done on these ideas, especially as we come into a significant anniversary of his work on pedagogy of the oppressed. Um so when he talks about reading the word, he's talking about our engagement

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with the written word, correct with the the things we read um in class um in the news online , so engaging with the written word and also the ways in which we read the world, the ways

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in which we interpret what's happening in the communities of which we are apart. Um in addition um it's important to be aware of our social locations because they can affect the ways in which others encounter us.

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Um so those um those readings, those interpretations of the social locations of others sometimes are spot on and sometimes are not, and I think it's important that we're open um to learning about the multiple ways in

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which social locations manifest. So intersectionality is a term that I imagine many of you have heard um in a number of different contexts, um at this point , and I just want to offer first a definition

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um that I'm drawing from the work of Nancy Ramsey and I'll have a slide that that shows uh the citation for her work at the end of our time together. But Ramsey talks about intersectionality similar to this

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way. Um, intersectionality is a meta theory and a set of practices that acknowledge and resist imbalances of power affecting individuals, communities and social structures. So , in terms of that, it's a set of

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theories, right? It's a grouping of theories that kind of inform a way of thinking about the world . And it's also a set of practices, right ? Um it's a it's the ways in which we

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in flesh that theory um in community, in ways that acknowledge the existence of imbalances of power, right ? And we don't um, intersectional thinking, discourages us from taking those imbalances of power for granted and

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rather encourages us to resist those imbalances of power in particular ways. Um so I'm just going to lift up some of the history of intersectionality in practice. So the meta theory of intersectionality was born in the

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context of social movements in the United States in the late 20th century. So, in terms of that , um if I don't know if any of you have seen the documentary on Dolores huerta's life, that's

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simply called Delores. Um but Angela Davis talks in that documentary about how folks involved in the civil rights movement, folks involved in the feminist movement, spokes , folks involved in the farm workers movement were practicing

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intersectionality before there was a term for it, right ? So they were involved in these movements for justice , in the communities of which they were apart and acknowledged the ways in which those struggles affected one another

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. So I imagine many of you have heard the phrase the struggle is one before. So these leaders and these movements are starting to see the ways in which their struggles are interconnected and participants in these movements

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also negotiated among themselves the impact that their social locations had on imbalances of power within those movements. Um and one example of that is the experiences of black and latino women within feminist movements. After Maria S

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. A. C. Diaz speaks to that reality . Um in an essay she has called a Hispanic garden in a Foreign land um from a collection called inheriting our mothers Gardens. That was written by um

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a group of third wave feminists, pardon me, third wave feminist theologians, and she talks about what it was like for her to be involved in the women's ordination movement in the catholic church, and what

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it was like for her to feel that she had been born a feminist as a result of her engagement in that movement, um and the real gift um that that brought to her experience of life of church

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, of kind of, living and moving and having her being in the world. And she also talks about the challenges that she experienced when she started to lift up her encounters um with practices that reflected some

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of those imbalances of power. She talks about some of the challenges that she had been working with other white women, pardon me, with other women who were white um and catholic, and she was trying

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to lift up some of the challenge that their lack of engagement with their privilege presented to her involvement in these struggles, our apartment in this struggle for women's ordination in the catholic church. So, I would

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really come in to you um taking a look at that particular essay, a hispanic garden in a foreign land, um to uh take a deeper look at a closer look at what S A c. Diaz

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is describing there, because I think she lives up part of why it's important for us as christians, for folks who are members of churches um to engage with these systems privilege and of marginalization. Early writings

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on intersectionality include Francis, Beals piece to be black and female, which was published in 1969. It outlines the interconnectedness of race, gender, and capitalism . Also, the conduct the river collectives. Black

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feminist statement includes concerns about the intersections of hetero sexism with racism, patriarchy and capitalism. So, in terms of that these uh these second wave feminists, these uh these women who are coming together in the

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1960s and 1970s reflecting on their experiences of life and um and trying to move forward in ways um that acknowledge um some of those inequalities uh that's part of the work that was being done um in community at

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this time. Later writings include this bridge called my back writings by radical women of color. Um and that that piece was edited by Sherry Moraga and Gloria Ansel the Wet. Um so that that collection is

00:11:00.120 - 00:11:13.910

actually in its fourth edition. The most recent edition came out in 2015. Um and it's bringing together poetry essays, all kinds of creative work um from women of color and it very much and flushes.

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Um some of the principles of intersectionality, which we'll talk about in a moment for now. I'd like to turn our attention to this notion of intersectionality as a meta theory and look a little bit more at

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at the historical roots of intersectional thinking. So, Kimberly Crenshaw introduced the term um in the late 1980s . Um she's a legal scholar and a black feminist woman. Patricia Hill Collins and Vivian may also have

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been influential in theorizing about intersectionality, if I'm not mistaken, both of them are sociologists. Vivian may , I believe teaches in a women's studies department now , um as a as a as a meta theory

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, intersectionality recognizes power differentials that affect individuals groups and social institutions, and I've listed a few examples of social institutions there, of the media, education, politics and economics. According to Patricia Hill Collins,

00:12:22.050 - 00:12:35.860

the impact of these imbalances of power is to re inscribe privilege and marginalization, and that's part of what intersectionality enables us to problema ties right. It sort of looks at the way things are, it looks

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at the ways in which things are working now and it um and it refuses to accept that reality as indicative of what needs to come in the future, right? Um so in terms of that intersectionality gives

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us a way of thinking about the world and um these unjust structures um that kind of Mark our encounters with the world and says it doesn't have to be this way and let's consider together. Um Some of

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the practice is we might live into as a result of our encounters with with these imbalances of power. Nancy. Ramsey is kind of uh summarizing some of the work that folks like Patricia Hill Collins, uh

00:13:22.480 - 00:13:39.930

Automobile J. And Kimberly Crenshaw have done as well as live in maids work on intersectionality, and she says that there are several guiding principles for this work . She argues that when we think intersectional e we

00:13:39.930 - 00:13:56.460

acknowledge that the causes for social inequality are multiple and often mutually reinforcing. So in terms of that social inequality isn't just a singular trajectory. Um for example , um when we think about our experiences of life

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, there may be a primary aspect of social identity um that that marks our relationship and to the world . So for example, when someone sees me, um they might say, oh that's that's a woman

00:14:13.620 - 00:14:28.820

right there, because the way um the way that I present myself to the world um indicates to them um markers that they would associate with women or with or with femininity, right? Um So that's one

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way of thinking about gender, for example. Um and if we think a little bit more clearly about experiences with gender, for example, the ways in which um womanhood can often be associated with motherhood,

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for example, that women are necessarily expected to be mothers by some members of our society. That can highlight some of our encounters with sexism, and that is an example of a kind of unit dimensional approach

00:15:03.530 - 00:15:18.850

to thinking about social inequality. Well, when we think intersectional e we think not only about sexism, for example, to continue with the example that we were just thinking about, but we also think about

00:15:18.860 - 00:15:39.910

how interactions with race or ethnic back or ethnic identity affect our experiences of gender, or how our experiences of socioeconomic standing or social class affect our experiences of gender. And part of what the conclusions that we

00:15:39.910 - 00:15:56.320

can come to. One of the conclusions that we can come to is that this unit dimensional thinking is insufficient to our analysis of social structures. So in terms of that we need to think about what um

00:15:56.330 - 00:16:15.650

uh white woman's experience of the world might be in comparison to a black woman's experience of the world. Um in comparison to a latino woman who might also identify as lesbian, Like what are the different causes

00:16:15.650 - 00:16:30.760

of social inequality? And how do they interact not only on that individual person's body when an individual person , person's experience of life, but also on their interactions with one another and their interactions with the social

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structures that characterize our experience of the world. Secondly , when we think intersectional e we acknowledge the impact that power relations have on the formation of our identities as individuals and as groups, as aspects of our

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social locations intersect with one another. So very similar to the idea that we were just that we were just talking about further when we think intersectional lee, we are moved to practice solidarity across differences. And

00:17:02.440 - 00:17:18.550

again, that's a phrase that's coming from Ramsey. So Ramsey in this regard, um is pointing to the ways in which Collins and Bill J and Crenshaw and may discourage the kind of analysis paralysis that can

00:17:18.550 - 00:17:30.470

set in right, where we're busy thinking about the world and considering injustice, and we kind of throw our hands up in the air and say, you know, what else can I really do about it

00:17:30.480 - 00:17:48.230

other than kind of understand that these are the dynamics at work. So thinking intersectional e um in its best iteration urges us to move forward to practice solidarity across those differences, and we'll talk a little bit

00:17:48.230 - 00:18:04.240

more without strategies um for for that solidarity toward the end of our time together today. In addition, when we think intersectional E we acknowledge the historical roots of social inequalities, and we aim to build coalition

00:18:04.250 - 00:18:22.800

in ways that reflect critical engagement with those histories. Um so I'm thinking about about this example in terms of my own experience Of coming to these questions more than one racial and ethnic background. Um, so

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in terms of that, I often pass as white , but I also have Latina roots and I think about this often in terms of the impact that colonization has had on communities of color in latin America,

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especially because I think about um just what my skin , my skin tone represents, for example, to indigenous folks in latin America, What are the images um that that my light skinned nous might evoke for

00:19:03.270 - 00:19:21.080

them in light of in light of this historical reality of colonization. And when I sit with that, and when I talked with folks who come from more indigenous backgrounds, part of what comes up for me

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is a call to engage the privileges that come along with my light skinned nous in a way um that is responsible. That reflects an understanding not only of intersectionality but also of the very real lived experiences of

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indigenous folks um in our communities, like what is my responsibility um to others in light of the legacy of my ancestors. I think that's an important question for those of us who have light skin privilege to

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reflect on how might that inform the ways in which we build coalition with one another. Ramsey also points out that when they think intersectional e we operate under the shared understanding that social inequality exists as a result

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of many factors, nothing referred to as Matrix. Thinking further, when we think intersectional lee, we assure neutrality in favor of intellectual and communal work for social justice. So intersectional thinking really encourages us to

00:20:37.510 - 00:20:55.510

uh to take a stand and to stand in a particular place when it comes to conversations about social inequality about the mutually intersecting and reinforcing structures of injustice. And lastly, I just want to lift up a

00:20:55.510 - 00:21:08.660

few thoughts that I have on why intersectionality as a meta theory and as a set of practices should matter for christians who seek justice in the world and in the church. First, intersectionality urges us to know

00:21:08.660 - 00:21:26.100

our histories and their complexity, so not only the histories of ourselves as individuals, but our families of the communities from which we come and to see how those histories interact and with the histories of those with

00:21:26.100 - 00:21:41.430

whom we share space, um those who can we live, those with whom we work secondly, intersectionality gives us tools to understand the complex social forces that perpetuate inequality. So it gives us some of those

00:21:41.430 - 00:21:55.560

tools for analysis that we talked about a moment ago , and leslie these understandings can help us live into rs scatological hope in the Kingdom of God. And when we talk about eschatological hope, we're not talking

00:21:55.560 - 00:22:08.160

about the kind of Pollyannish thinking that says, oh , someday it'll get better, right, or or where set fails to acknowledge the reality of injustice in the here and now. So these understandings help us

00:22:08.160 - 00:22:22.960

live into the kind of hope that is practiced, the kind of hope that makes space for a different future, for a future, that is more just for a future, that reflects the intention that God

00:22:22.960 - 00:22:40.390

has uh for God's beloved, uh not only um in human form, but also in the form of creation as well. So lastly, I want to lift up some strategies for justice work. Um And

00:22:40.390 - 00:22:56.390

the first the first few strategies are somewhat more uh interior early oriented. Um And the last ones have more to do with our interactions with one another and I think all of them are important. Um First

00:22:56.390 - 00:23:14.020

I encourage us to know ourselves um to do our inner work. Um I think that these practices are are important that we know the biases that we bring into this work um that we're aware of our own

00:23:14.020 - 00:23:30.380

formation, Alexe piri ince's within our families, within our communities um that can affect the ways in which we interact with one another secondly, and I think equally importantly, is to practice self care. So

00:23:30.380 - 00:23:47.070

in terms of that, um what I'm wanting to lift up there is that we don't always need um to be doing right. Um And I think that is challenging prospect for folks who are involved in justice

00:23:47.070 - 00:24:03.960

work because the enormity um of um the enormity of the need, the enormity of these intersecting injustices um can be overwhelming and we feel like we need to do and do and do and do. And part

00:24:03.960 - 00:24:23.950

of what my experience in working in the community where I did my dissertation fieldwork taught me is the importance of self care. The importance of taking time to care for ourselves um in very concrete ways, making

00:24:23.950 - 00:24:38.110

sure that we eat enough good food, making sure that we go outside, um, and exercise enough that we try to keep our bodies minds and spirits in balance as best we can so that we can

00:24:38.340 - 00:24:52.590

have the reserves that we need, the energy that we need to do this work. In addition, we need to root ourselves spiritually. However, we define that. Um, and within different christian communities

00:24:52.590 - 00:25:07.300

, there are lots of different ways of talking about rooting ourselves spiritually. Um, and I just want to lift up that for for me a lot of times this takes um takes the form of music in

00:25:07.300 - 00:25:22.360

some way, whether it's um singing on my own , whether it's listening to music that helps remind me of God's love not only for me, but for the communities from which I come of God's love for

00:25:22.740 - 00:25:37.860

uh for for the world, all of these things are important in rooting ourselves spiritually. So we have these reserves on which to draw when things are are challenging in terms of our work in the world.

00:25:40.140 - 00:25:55.850

In addition, a strategy that I think is encouraged by Matrix thinking is to acknowledge the historical impact at the actions of our ancestors on these struggles for justice . Um so I think that that takes different forms

00:25:55.850 - 00:26:08.850

for all of us, um but that that awareness of the historicity, that awareness that, you know , conversations about racial justice, for example, in the United States um take place on the backdrop of

00:26:08.850 - 00:26:26.340

chattel slavery, take place on the backdrop, our , pardon me, with the backdrop of indentured servitude um take place with the current reality of the crisis on the border, right? Um so so knowing

00:26:26.350 - 00:26:47.270

the long history of um of those of those realities is important, and again, resisting the temptation to let analysis paralysis set in for us and to move forward in a way that reflects that understanding of the

00:26:47.270 - 00:27:03.570

historical context for these struggles. And lastly, I would encourage us to think and act intersectional e and to let our analyses inform our behavior and vice versa , right? Let our experiences in community and form

00:27:03.570 - 00:27:19.350

our analyses. Um and I'm going to talk briefly about some of the practices that I observed in the community where I did my dissertation research, it was latin X. Catholic parish in the Greater Los Angeles

00:27:19.350 - 00:27:41.300

area, um that had amazing group of women who were very much uh leaders um in their neighborhood and in their church. Um These women were mothers and grandmothers often, um and they and really understood the

00:27:41.300 - 00:28:00.030

reality of the neighborhood in which they lived and system of these um these ideas about how we can think and act intersectional e come from my experiences with them . Um 1st, um as a person who has

00:28:00.030 - 00:28:11.880

light skin privilege, I learned about the importance of listening. Um I went into that community at a time in my doctoral studies, where I was used to having a lot of air time. I was

00:28:11.880 - 00:28:26.070

used to um to having having the mic for lack of a better way of putting it um and being a part of that community um for those two consecutive winters for the last couple of years of my doctoral

00:28:26.070 - 00:28:40.740

studies really taught me about the importance of listening, the importance of asking questions, the importance of being curious about the realities of folks who with whom I might have a lot in common, um, in

00:28:40.740 - 00:28:53.770

other ways, but who may not look like me . Right? So, and I think related lee is this second piece about practicing humility just to say not necessarily in words, but in our actions,

00:28:55.140 - 00:29:11.040

um, that that we uh that we not only care for the person or community with whom were in dialogue, but we again know how to take a step back um, and learn from the example of

00:29:11.040 - 00:29:26.680

the community when it comes to work for justice. Similarly favoring curiosity over judgment, I think is a helpful rule in life. That also is a helpful practice in this work for justice. Think oftentimes in

00:29:26.680 - 00:29:40.840

communication especially, it can be challenging to get a sense of where everyone is coming from. So I think it's important that we ask questions like am I hearing you right? Um did I do they hear

00:29:40.840 - 00:29:52.540

this? Uh what you're saying well, um and being open to hearing? No, that's not quite right. Um let me share with you a little bit more about about my own perspective. So again

00:29:52.540 - 00:30:07.240

, favoring curiosity over judgment and these last two kind of go hand in hand trusting the wisdom, the group wisdom of the group and following the lead of those human balances of power effect most acutely. And

00:30:07.240 - 00:30:22.540

I think this last piece can be particularly challenging for those folks um who again are used to having the mic right are used to having more airtime um as a result often of our light skin privilege. So

00:30:22.540 - 00:30:44.180

following the lead of those human balances of power effect most acutely acknowledging that our experiences as light skinned folks do not reflect necessarily the experiences of people of color um and really working um from that acknowledgement in a

00:30:44.180 - 00:31:00.760

way that is productive for everyone. Um So again it I think that involves often taking a step back um and allowing space, making space for the leadership of folks of color for example, um to to

00:31:00.760 - 00:31:19.510

emerge some of these texts are ones that I referred to in the presentation. So Katie Cannon, S . A. C. Diaz Quadra Island Russell all edited this text, inheriting our mothers gardens. Um

00:31:19.520 - 00:31:36.660

We've got Collins and villages work on intersectionality as well as out of Crenshaw and uh end of May. Um This Bridge called My Back um edited by Sherry Moraga and Gloria Ansel doula, and then again pastoral

00:31:36.660 - 00:31:52.950

theology and care, which is the text that Nancy Ramsey edited on critical trajectories in theory and practice, on which I drew pretty heavily toward the end of the presentation. So I'm going to invite us to

00:31:52.950 - 00:32:17.030

just take a moment and breathe a little bit as we enter into our closing prayer. This is a prayer that's often attributed to um to Archbishop Romero. There's a contested history there about about the authorship that

00:32:17.030 - 00:32:36.930

I would encourage you to to explore um in some research online, but all that is to say. Um I think this prayer is helpful um and lifting up and lifting up our needs and acknowledging what we

00:32:36.930 - 00:32:53.670

can do and acknowledging what the community can do and acknowledging what God can do. And in this work for justice, let us pray. It helps now and then to step back and take a long view

00:32:54.540 - 00:33:12.200

. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplished in our lifetime. Only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is

00:33:12.200 - 00:33:30.150

complete. Which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit

00:33:30.150 - 00:33:49.130

brings wholeness, no program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already

00:33:49.130 - 00:34:07.060

planted knowing that they hold future. Promise, we lay foundations that will need further development. We provide use that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything. And there is a sense of liberation

00:34:07.640 - 00:34:21.430

in realizing that this enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete , but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to

00:34:21.430 - 00:34:36.260

enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results. But that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers , not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.

00:34:37.040 - 00:34:52.670

We are profits of the future, not our own . Amen. Thank you for your time. I'll I appreciate your presence. Um, if there are further questions or concerns, I'm happy to stay on

00:34:52.680 - 00:35:02.740

, uh, to chat a little longer. Thanks for being here. Okay? Yeah, yeah.