Teaching Race, Colonialism, and Theology in a Joint Project in North America and Africa: Insights from the Project

Abstract

How do race and lived experiences of this construct impact student theological understandings? We embarked on a joint pedagogical venture spanning two continents about race and theology with groups of students whose encounters with race and its impacts on theology were markedly different—including students whose lives and education have been formed by colonialism and its continuing legacies, and students whose grasp of theological systems had hardly addressed the effects of racism on theology. In this article, we share what we learned and offer recommendations for others looking to use this as a model.

Keywords:

• Race and theology
• pedagogy
• racism
• colonialism
• Africa
• North America
• theological education
• university education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Participating African students assumed that all the students in the North American course were white. While this was not true, the fact that many North American students did not turn on their cameras during joint sessions helped bolster the false narrative that people who go to university in North America are all, or mostly, white.

Additional information

Funding

The funding was provided through a Collaborative Research Grant by American Academy of Religion as well as funding from Saint Anselm College.

Notes on contributors

Cynthia Holder Rich

Cynthia Holder Rich, Ph.D. served at Tumaini University Makumira and now serves at Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University, Columbus OH. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Her research interests include religion in Tanzania and Madagascar on topics such as decolonizing religious education, community-based care for mental illness, and religion and politics.

R. Ward Holder

R. Ward Holder, Ph.D., is a professor in the Theology and Politics Departments at Saint Anselm College. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). His research interests include the history of Christian doctrine in the early modern period, the history of the interpretation of scripture, political theology, and John Calvin.

Aubrey Scheopner Torres

Aubrey Scheopner Torres, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Education Department at Saint Anselm College. Her research interests include teacher preparation, Catholic elementary and secondary schools, and the impact of race and ethnicity in education. Email: [email protected]