The Reverend Doctor LeAnn Snow Flesher was our professor for a Berkeley School of Theology class this summer called “White Supremacy and the Bible.” My final paper was “Ethnocentrism and Racism.” The paper starts:
“Are ethnocentrism and racism different or the same, and what difference does this make? I engage these terms regarding American social structures, biology, and power / domination, as well as considering to what extent ethnocentrism and racism are mutually exclusive or overlapping. I will focus on two of our class books that examine these and related concepts, the Rev. Canon Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas’s Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, and Dr. David M. Goldenberg’s The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This paper starts by reviewing definitions of ethnocentrism and racism from a variety of sources, followed by a section on what Douglas and Goldenberg write and seem to mean by those concepts, concluding with a section that considers how these meanings make a difference.”
You can read the whole paper here. Below is the “Social /Cultural Group Evaluation – Ethnocentrism <-> Racism Scale” graphic, discussed on pages 19-20 of the paper.
If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Images Copyright 2021 by Katy Dickinson.
Thanks, Katy. Kelly Brown Douglas did a clergy retreat for CT clergy 3 years ago. She is terrific; allowing us to confront our own racism and that of our parishes.
Pam Strobel+
Sent from my iPad
>
I heard Canon Douglas give a sermon at National Cathedral years ago. She is a very impressive speaker and a remarkable and inspiring leader!
Hi Katy, What an interesting paper. Lots of food for thought. Certainly areas of discussion for people to agree or disagree. Thanks for sharing.