Mini-Conference: “Public Theology and Postcolonial Hermeneutics”
For some years, researchers of the VU-Faculty of Religion & Theology together with an international team, has been developing a research project titled “The Role of Religion in the Construction of Narratives and Practices of Polarization and/or Transformation in Post-Conflict Societies.” A first Expert Meeting was organized in November 2018. Since then, more researchers have become involved, led by the VU-faculty’s Research Group “PTR”.
The main goal of this proposal is to explore how religion—both, institutionalized and lived by different communities—functions in the construction of narratives and practices for either polarization (exclusion, othering, etc.) or transformation (reconciliation, forgiveness, and peacebuilding) in so-called “post-conflict” societies. Five contexts have been chosen for this research: Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa, The Balkan region, and The Netherlands.
The key hermeneutical approach to this research project is informed by postcolonial studies. To explore this further, a Mini-Conference on “Public Theology and Postcolonial Hermeneutics” was held on September 2021. Researchers from the five contexts, VU-students of the Master-specialization program
“PTR” and international exchange students of the “Bridging Gaps Program” participated actively.
The goal of the Mini-Conference was to understand how this common hermeneutical approach of a postcolonial lens could be applied to the five chosen contexts. In the case of Indonesia (Prof. Binsar Pakpahan), the conversation circled around the existence of different understandings of forgiveness, based on guilt—mostly coming from the Western Christian tradition—or shame and honor—which are perceived as key principles for different communities in Asia. Thus, a postcolonial lens helps to re-interpret the concept and vision of forgiveness in a framework of creating harmony in society, rather than a confession of guilt.
For Colombia (MA Maria Camila Posse), the analysis involved exploring the narratives and self-perception of the “elites” in the country in relation to the “poor” others (which can be even frames as ‘dirty’), to the history and genesis of armed conflict, and to the peace-building process itself. It became clear how the narratives of this “elite” are deeply rooted in the colonial history. While these narratives have profound consequences in society, they are often ignored.
For post-apartheid South Africa (Dr. Demain Solomons), the focus was on how black liberation theology can be envisioned considering the latent existence of white domination / “White theology”. Emphasis was given to see the process de-colonizing theology, not as a deviation of the norm but as a key task of “un-west-ing” theology and research, stressing the need to “un-think” the West. In the case of The Netherlands (Prof. Ruard Ganzevoort), attention was given to the colonial heritage, and how it is still present in academic spaces as well as in the dominant narratives of self-representation of Dutch identity. It was key to see that acknowledgment of Whiteness and the colonial past are not enough without considering the reparation.
Finally, The Balkans (Prof. Gorazd Andrejč) was reflected as a region where the intersection of different empires of different times can be observed, creating different forms of divisions, leading to ethno-religious and ethno-nationalistic identities, which mark today´s tensions.
Written by: Dr. Andrés Pacheco, post-doc researcher at ACRPJ
