Asian-Pacific Islander Diasporic Political Theology in the Context of Empire Building (ST-2453, January 2008)

Together as a learning community we will engage in a search for an Asian-Pacific Islander transformative political theology. We will enter this search through the lens of the Theology of Struggle (Filipino theology), its background, context and main tenets in the larger global context of the imperial project and predatory globalization. We will identify connections between the struggle of Filipinos, Filipino-Americans and other Asian-Pacific Islanders and identify post-colonial strategies and practices for social transformation.

Our guide, Dr. Eleazar Fernandez, is Professor of Constructive Theology at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. He is the author of Toward a Theology of Struggle (1994) and has published extensively on Filipino faith, post-colonial theology, and cross-cultural mission. He has served as a pastor in the United Church of Christ Philippines and is active in the United Church of Christ U.S.A.

This course was offered in January 2008 as part of the Civil Liberty and Faith project of the PANA Institute, and is co-sponsored by Daly City United Methodist Church and Filipino-American United Church of Christ in Fremont.

This course continued the PANA tradition of including "immersion" journeys out of the classroom and into sites of the API community. One of the course participants, Rev. Jay Sapaen Watan (Youth Minister & Chaplain, St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Foster City, CA) has posted his photos from the experience on Flickr, including photos from the Spiritual Walk to Filipino American Sacred Sites in San Francisco, guided by Christina Leaño, social justice activist and contemplative spiritual practitioner, and more photos, from visits to Daly City (Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center) and San Francisco (Filipino Community Center) with the Rev. Wilson de Ocera of Daly City UMC; also at PSR with Pastor Wilson and The Rev. Michael Yoshii of Buena Vista UMC.

Slideshow of Filipino American Sacred Sites in San Francisco.
Slideshow of more course photos.

Course Information

ST-2453, 3.0 units
Dates: Weekdays, Jan 7–18, 2008
Time: 5:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. (except Friday Jan 11, Tues Jan 15: 1:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m)
Location: PSR MUDD 103
Professor: Dr. Eleazar S. Fernandez, visiting scholar at PSR's PANA Institute. efernandez@unitedseminary.edu

Non-Credit Students

Members of the general public are welcome to attend one or any number of sessions, free of charge. All lectures and panels will begin after 6:30 pm, for the convenience of the public.

Course Description

This course enters the Asian–Pacific Islanders' search for a transformative theo-political discourse through the theology of struggle (a Filipino theology). From this entry point, it pursues, explores, and seeks to articulate the main tenets, practices and shape of APIs political theology through the lens of diasporic, post-colonial, race and ethnic discourse in the context of the global market and U.S. imperial project. This course employs various teaching-learning methods such as lecture, workshop, panel presentation, dialogue, and immersion in the neighboring communities. As a course that seeks to build a mixed learning community, it is open to GTU students for credit, pastors and lay leaders for C.E.U. and for the wider community. This course is being offered as part of the Civil Liberty and Faith project of the PANA Institute.

Schedule of Sessions

Monday, January 7

Postcolonial Discourse and Postcolonial Reading of History: Reading the Philippine Context Through the Experience of the Struggling People

  • Introduction of Participants
  • Presentation by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Engaging in Postcolonial Reading of History"
  • Film: Savage Acts
  • Presentation by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Reading the Philippine Context through the Experience of the Struggling People"
  • Historical Timeline by Participants
  • Readings:
    • Sugirtharajah, Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation, 11–42.
    • Schirmer, et al., The Philippines: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship and Resistance.

Tuesday, January 8

Stories of People's Struggle and the Emergence of the Theology of Struggle

  • Panel of community activists speaking on their experiences in the historical movement in the Philippines
    • Marma Urbano, Philippine Human Rights Advocacy Liaison of the Philippine Working Group (PWG) of the Church World Service's Asia Pacific Forum (CWS-APF)
    • Dennis Duhaylungsod, pastor of Filipino American United Church of Christ in Fremont, CA
    • Mario Santos, National Coordinator of the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP), and SEIU (Service Employees International Union) activist
  • Lecture by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "The Theology of Struggle and Current Challenges"
  • Readings:
    • Sugirtharajah, "Convergent Trajectories? Liberation Hermeneutics and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism," in Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation, 103–123.
    • Fernandez, Toward a Theology of Struggle.

Wednesday, January 9

Weaving of Stories: Weaving of Tears, Weaving of Hope: The Philippines and the Asia-Pacific Context

  • Lecture by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Filipino Folk Religiosity and the Theology of Struggle" — moved
  • Presentation and Timeline from Participants: The Asia-Pacific Context in the Era of Colonization, Globalization, and Global Terrorism
  • Film: Let Freedom Ring
  • Historical Timeline by Participants
  • Readings:
    • William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III, "Protecting the 'Sacred Ipu': Connecting the Sacred in Being Hawaiian -Christian in Hawai‘i—A Personal Journey," in Revealing the Sacred in Asia and Pacific America, 29–42.
    • Nakasone and Sered, "Ritual Transformations in Okinawan Immigrant Communities," in Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America, 79–98.

Thursday, January 10

Weaving of Stories: Weaving of Tears, Weaving of Hope: The Asia-Pacific Context

  • Presentation by Jonathan Diaz and Sabina Perez of Famoksaiyan.
    • Jonathan Diaz is a Chamoru rights educator and activist who completed his studies at the Graduate Theological Union in 2003. He has served and worked in various educational and religious institutions throughout the United States and also on Guahan. He is fellow with the Eli Lilly Foundation and the Pacific American Foundation. He actively works to bring peace to his island home of Guam and the Mariana Islands. He is presently a high school campus minister in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
  • Lecture by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Doing Theology in the Asia-Pacific Context in the Era of Globalization, Diaspora, and Global Terrorism"
  • Readings:
    • Matsuoka and Fernandez, Realizing the America of our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans, 11–28, 29–40, 55–72, 99–114.
    • Mark Lewis Taylor, "Spirit and Liberation: Achieving Postcolonial Theology in the United States," in Postcolonial Theologies: Divinity and Empire, 39–55.

Friday, January 11 — TIME: 1:30–5:30 p.m.

Filipino and Filipino American Diaspora Experience

  • Spiritual Walk to Filipino American Sacred Sites in San Francisco, guided by Christina Leaño, social justice activist and contemplative spiritual practitioner. Meet 1:30 pm at St. Patrick's Church in San Francisco, 756 Mission St. at Third St., San Francisco, CA 94103 (across from Yerba Buena/ Metreon).
  • Film: Filipino Americans: Discovering Their Past for the Future
  • Reading:
    • Gonzalez and Maison, "We Do Not Bowl Alone: Social and Cultural Capital from Filipinos and their Churches," in Asian American Religions: The Making and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries, 338–359.

Monday, January 14

Asian-American Theologies and Diaspora Spiritualities

  • Lecture by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Exploration on Diaspora Theology and Spirituality"
  • Reading:
    • Matsuoka and Fernandez, Realizing the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans, 75–98, 158–179.

Tuesday, January 15 — TIME: 1:30–5:30 p.m.

Life and Ministries of Diasporic Churches

  • Community Immersion in Daly City, CA: visit to Daly City United Methodist Church; housing, mental health, labor issues in the diasporic communities, guided by Rev. Wilson de Ocera, pastor of Daly City United Methodist Church and community organizer. For carpool from Berkeley please call Deborah Lee, 510/849-8260 and meet at PANA at 12:30 pm. Otherwise, meet at 1:30pm at Daly City UMC, 1474 Southgate Ave, Daly City, CA 94015.
  • Readings:
    • Jeung, Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches, 42–62.
    • Matsuoka and Fernandez, Realizing the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans, 131–146.

Wednesday, January 16

Reimagining Mission and Ministries of APIs Faith Communities

  • Presentation by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Mission and Ministry in Light of APIs Diaspora Experience"
  • Small Group Workshops
  • Readings:
    • Matsuoka and Fernandez, Realizing the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans, 147–157.

Thursday, January 17

How Do We Realize Our Dreams? Developing New Models and Learning Skills

  • Lecture by Eleazar S. Fernandez: "Pastoral Praxis and the Question of Power"
  • Presentation/Stories:
    • Rev. Wilson de Ocera, Pacific Interfaith Action Model
    • Rev. Michael Yoshii, Buena Vista UMC
  • Readings:
    • Fisher, "Grass-Roots Organizing Worldwide: Common Ground, Historical Roots, and the Tension Between Democracy and the State," in Mobilizing the Community: Local Politics in the Era of the Global City, 3–27.

Friday, January 18

Sharing of Learnings, Evaluation, Closing Worship and CELEBRATION!

 

Course Objectives

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

  • Understand the background, context, and main tenets of the theology of struggle.
  • Understand the Filipino struggle and diaspora in the larger global context of imperial project and predatory globalization.
  • Identify connections between the struggle of the Filipino people and Filipino- Americans and the struggle of the broader APIs.
  • Identify common challenges of diasporized people in the U.S.
  • Locate the theology of struggle in the wider Asian Pacific Islanders theological discourse.
  • Identify the convergences and differences of various APIs theological discourse.
  • Identify and articulate the main tenets of APIs diasporic political theology in the context of empire building and predatory globalization.
  • Identify and develop postcolonial strategies for social transformation.
  • Find an entry point of dialogue and common action among racial-ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups in the U.S.
  • Acquire some skills in solidarity building and transforming actions.
  • Re-imagine some forms of ministry that are responsive to the needs of diaspora communities in general and of APIs diaspora communities in particular.
  • Find companions as well as resources to nourish themselves in the long journey of social transformation.

Readings

  • Eleazar S. Fernandez, Toward a Theology of Struggle (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1994).
  • Daniel B. Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, The Philippines: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance (Boston: South End Press, 1987).
  • Fumitaka Matsuoka and Eleazar S. Fernandez, eds., Realizing the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2003), 11–28, 29–40, 55–72, 75–98, 99–114, 131–146, 147–157, 158–179.
  • Clive Pearson, ed., Faith in a Hyphen: Doing Cross Cultural Theologies Down Under (Adelaide: Open Book; Sydney: UTC Publications, 2004).
  • Mark Lewis Taylor, "Spirit and Liberation: Achieving Postcolonial Theology in the United States," in Postcolonial Theologies: Divinity and Empire, ed. Catherine Keller, Michael Nausner and Mayra Rivera (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2004), 39–55.
  • Russell Jeung, Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches (New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005), 42–62.
  • R. S. Sugirtharajah, Postcolonialism and Biblical Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 11-42,103-123.
  • Joaquin Gonzalez and Andrea Mason, "We Do Not Bowl Alone: Social and Cultural Capital from Filipinos and Their Churches," in Asian American Religions: The Making and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries, ed., Tony Carnes and Fenggang Yang (New York and London: New York University Press, 2004), 338–359.
  • William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III, "Protecting the 'Sacred Ipu': Connecting the Sacred Being Hawaiian-Christian in Hawaii—A Personal Journey," in Revealing the Sacred in Asia and Pacific America, ed., Jane Naomi Iwamura and Paul Spickard (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), 29–42.
  • Ronald Nakasone and Susan Sered, "Ritual Transformations in Okinawan Immigrant Communities," in Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America, ed., Karen Leonard, et. al. (Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York, Toronto, and Oxford: Alta Mira Press, 2005), 79–98.
  • Robert Fisher and Joseph Kling, Mobilizing the Community: Local Politics in the Era of the Global City (Newbury Park, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 1993), 3–27.

This course was offered in January 2008 as part of the Civil Liberty and Faith project of the PANA Institute.

PANA Philipinnes Focus page.