ERIC Number: EJ1049977
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jan
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-4868
EISSN: N/A
The Politics of Teaching of Indigenous Traditions in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Wiseman, Wendy A.
Teaching Theology & Religion, v18 n1 p73-80 Jan 2015
Reflecting on two study abroad trips to New Zealand in 2005 and 2007, I suggest in this essay that it is possible to mitigate the risk of (American or European) students recapitulating imperial attitudes through development of a rigorous curriculum focusing on the legacies of colonialism, institutional racism, and the somewhat dubious phenomenon of "post-colonialism." Readings, I argue, should be in continual play during cultural and social activities, operating in a dialectal move toward an "ethics of respect." Such an ethics remains aporetic, or uncertain, insofar as no code of behavior can render us immune to the political and polemical effects of past and present forms of imperialism. However, a cultivated respect for distance and difference, including regarding questions of "authenticity," can help to actualize the transformative promise of studying (indigenous) religion abroad. This essay is published alongside of six other essays, including a response from John Barbour, comprising a special section of the journal (see "Teaching Theology and Religion" 18:1, January 2015). [See the essays in ERIC at: EJ1049966 (Elijah Siegler); EJ1049971 (Andrew Irvine); EJ1049973 (Kerry Mitchell); EJ1049975 (Norris W. Palmer); EJ1049979 (Calvin Mercer); and EJ1049982 (Response by John D. Barbour.)]
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Study Abroad, Indigenous Populations, Racial Bias, Social Attitudes, Social Bias, Ethics, Cultural Awareness, Consciousness Raising, History, Political Issues, Transformative Learning, Religion
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A