Whither Whiteness and Religion?: Implications for Theology and the Study of Religion

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-199
Author(s):  
Rachel C Schneider ◽  
Sophie Bjork-James
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Protestant Christianity ◽  
Race And Religion

Abstract Within the broad interdisciplinary domain of religious studies, explicit attention to whiteness remains limited. Not only does this situation reinforce an analytic division between race and religion, it also works to obscure the racial dimensions of dominant Western forms of religion, particularly Protestant Christianity in the United States, as well as the religious dimensions of white supremacy. Tracing the contours of a body of scholarship on whiteness and religion that has been scattered across a number of fields and disciplinary boundaries, this article explores the role that the racial category of whiteness has played in US religious life and what is gained analytically by exploring the co-imbrication of whiteness and religion. Given persisting racial inequality and white extremism, we argue that whiteness itself needs to be theorized and discussed within the study of religion in ways that do not shy away from explicit discussions of power and racism.

Amidst pandemic and racial upheaval: Where Asian Americans Fit

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Whitney Hua ◽  
Jane Junn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
American Capitalism ◽  
Racial History ◽  
History Of

Abstract As racial tensions flare amidst a global pandemic and national social justice upheaval, the centrality of structural racism has renewed old questions and raised new ones about where Asian Americans fit in U.S. politics. This paper provides an overview of the unique racial history of Asians in the United States and analyzes the implications of dynamic racialization and status for Asian Americans. In particular, we examine the dynamism of Asian Americans' racial positionality relative to historical shifts in economic-based conceptions of their desirability as workers in American capitalism. Taking history, power, and institutions of white supremacy into account, we analyze where Asian Americans fit in contemporary U.S. politics, presenting a better understanding of the persistent structures underlying racial inequality and developing a foundation from which Asian Americans can work to enhance equality.

scholarly journals Class Mobility and Reproduction for Black and White Adults in the United States: A Visualization

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802312096095
Author(s):  
Daniel Laurison ◽  
Dawn Dow ◽  
Carolyn Chernoff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Good Picture ◽  
Class Mobility ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Class Origin

The relationship between where people start out in life (class origin) and where they are likely to end up (class destination) is central to any question about the fairness of contemporary society. Yet we often don’t have a good picture—literally or metaphorically—of the contours of that relationship. Further, work on class mobility in the United States often glosses over the large differences between white and Black Americans’ class positions and mobility trajectories. This visualization, based on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, shows the association between occupational class origin and destination for Black and white employed Americans ages 25 to 69. Stark racial inequality, produced by the legacy and ongoing operation of white supremacy, is evident in each aspect of these figures.

Humanism and Race

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Cameron
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
African Diaspora ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Race And Religion

Academic studies of humanism often ignore questions of race and both the existence and significance of non-white humanists. At the same time, scholarship on race and religion fails to consider humanist traditions. Through an analysis of work by literary critics, intellectual historians/philosophers, scholars of religious studies, and theologians this chapter calls for a greater attention to the intersection of race and humanism and posits three key points: scholars working in these fields must make greater use of archival sources and periodicals; explore the ideas and activism of white, black, Native American, and Latinx humanists; and carefully consider the influence of humanism throughout the African Diaspora on black humanism in the United States.

scholarly journals Black Religion and Black Power: The Nation of Islam’s Internationalism

Genealogy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Bayyinah S. Jeffries
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Black Power ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
African Descent ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black American ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Race And Religion

The Nation of Islam’s influence has extended beyond the United States. This Black American Muslim movement has used the intersection of race and religion to construct a blueprint of liberation that has bonded people of African descent throughout the Diaspora. Their transnational dimensions and ideas of freedom, justice and equality have worked to challenge global white imperialism and white supremacy throughout the 20th century and beyond.

1. The category of “African American religion”

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eddie S. Glaude
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
American Religion ◽  
African American Religion ◽  
History Of

African American religious life is not defined by just the “Negro church”—the preacher, music, and the frenzy—but consists of all the varied religious practices that occur within black communities in the United States. African American religion emerges in the encounter between faith, in all of its complexity, and white supremacy. ‘The Category of "African American Religion"’ explains the three key ideas used to organize the study of African American religion: practice of freedom, sign of difference, and open-ended orientation. Taken together, and using three representative examples of African American religion (conjure, Christianity, and Islam), they help us navigate the complex religious history of African Americans in the United States.

Dismantling White Privilege: The Black Lives Matter Movement and Environmental Justice in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Teelucksingh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Jim Crow Era

On August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, alt-right/White supremacy groups and Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters came face-to-face regarding what to do about public monuments that celebrate key figures from slavery and the Jim Crow era. White supremacists and White nationalists did not hide their racist ideologies as they demanded that their privileged place in history not be erased. The BLM movement, which challenges state-sanctioned anti-Black racism, was ready to confront themes of White discontent and reverse racism, critiques of political correctness, and the assumption that racialized people should know their place and be content to be the subordinate other.It is easy to frame the events in Charlottesville as indicative of US-specific race problems. However, a sense that White spaces should prevail and an ongoing history of anti-Black racism are not unique to the United States. The rise of Canadian activism under the BLM banner also signals a movement to change Canadian forms of institutional racism in policing, education, and the labor market. This article responds to perceptions that the BLM movement has given insufficient attention to environmental concerns (Pellow 2016; Halpern 2017). Drawing on critical race theory as a conceptual tool, this article focuses on the Canadian context as part of the author’s argument in favor of greater collaboration between BLM and the environmental justice (EJ) movement in Canada. This article also engages with the common stereotype that Blacks in Canada have it better than Blacks in the United States.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Color Blind ◽  
American Society ◽  
Liberal Political Theory

The persistence of racial inequality in the United States raises deep and complex questions of racial justice. Some observers argue that public policy must be “color-blind,” while others argue that policies that take race into account should be defended on grounds of diversity or integration. This chapter begins to sketch an alternative to both of these, one that supports strong efforts to address racial inequality but that focuses on the conditions necessary for the liberty and equality of all. It argues that while race is a social construction, it remains deeply embedded in American society. A conception of racial justice is needed, one that is grounded on the premises provided by liberal political theory.

An Overview of the History of Religious Life in the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Wittberg ◽  
Thomas P. Gaunt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Order ◽  
Religious Institutes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Socioeconomic Composition

This chapter briefly describes the history of religious institutes in the United States. It first covers the demographics—the overall numbers and the ethnic and socioeconomic composition—of the various institutes during the nineteenth century. It next discusses the types of ministries the sisters, brothers, and religious order priests engaged in, and the sources of vocations to their institutes. The second section covers changes in religious institutes after 1950, covering the factors which contributed to the changes as well as their impact on the institutes themselves and the larger Church. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the subsequent chapters.

White Supremacy and Counseling Psychology: A Critical–Conceptual Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R. Grzanka ◽  
Kirsten A. Gonzalez ◽  
Lisa B. Spanierman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Counseling Psychology ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Helping Professions ◽  
White Clients ◽  
Racial Progress ◽  
Counseling Psychologists

The mainstreaming of White nationalism in the United States and worldwide suggests an urgent need for counseling psychologists to take stock of what tools they have (and do not have) to combat White supremacy. We review the rise of social justice issues in the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions and point to the limits of existing paradigms to address the challenge of White supremacy. We introduce transnationalism as an important theoretical perspective with which to conceptualize global racisms, and identify White racial affect, intersectionality, and allyship as three key domains of antiracist action research. Finally, we suggest three steps for sharpening counseling psychologists’ approaches to social justice: rejecting racial progress narratives, engaging in social justice-oriented practice with White clients, and centering White supremacy as a key problem for the field of counseling psychology and allied helping professions.

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