Jason Straussman | University of Chicago (original) (raw)
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Conference Presentations by Jason Straussman
The footage of black unarmed men being shot and the emergence of the black lives mater movement h... more The footage of black unarmed men being shot and the emergence of the black lives mater movement have made racial tension a national conversation. White colorblindness has been a major part of the discussion in addressing racism in a post-civil rights world. In religious studies, contextual readings have sought to destabilize privileged readings by introducing minority voices. This is an important step, but it does not address how white readers experience the passage. For instance, there are African-American and post-colonial readings of the woman at the well in John 4 but the idea of a white reading of the woman at the well seems absurd. The absurdity of a white reading rests on a system of colorblindness that assumes white as normative. For this reason, I dialogue with the work of Wendy Ryden and Ian Marshall who confront racism by promoting white visibility.
I am a white male and I use Jonathan Culpepper’s work on cognitive poetics and Marisan Bortolussi’s psychonarratology as a theoretical framework for understanding how stereotypes effect my reading. I also draw on the works of Jennifer Harvey, Karen Teel, and James W. Perkinson who use their own whiteness as a beginning point for deconstructing white colorblindness. I then introduce a white reading of the Syro-Phoenician Woman in Mark 7:24-31. I read the passage and identify with Jesus as the man who has resources (healing) and is harassed by the woman. His initial resistance and ethnic slur mirror my white privilege as I am confronted with my own stereotypes. Ultimately the woman’s love for her daughter transforms Jesus. As a white reader I am also confronted by the experience of the “other” and called to embrace diversity. Jesus was not colorblind nor am I. I believe that in a nation full of racial tension, this paper can help promote diversity and help deconstruct white hegemony.
The footage of black unarmed men being shot and the emergence of the black lives mater movement h... more The footage of black unarmed men being shot and the emergence of the black lives mater movement have made racial tension a national conversation. White colorblindness has been a major part of the discussion in addressing racism in a post-civil rights world. In religious studies, contextual readings have sought to destabilize privileged readings by introducing minority voices. This is an important step, but it does not address how white readers experience the passage. For instance, there are African-American and post-colonial readings of the woman at the well in John 4 but the idea of a white reading of the woman at the well seems absurd. The absurdity of a white reading rests on a system of colorblindness that assumes white as normative. For this reason, I dialogue with the work of Wendy Ryden and Ian Marshall who confront racism by promoting white visibility.
I am a white male and I use Jonathan Culpepper’s work on cognitive poetics and Marisan Bortolussi’s psychonarratology as a theoretical framework for understanding how stereotypes effect my reading. I also draw on the works of Jennifer Harvey, Karen Teel, and James W. Perkinson who use their own whiteness as a beginning point for deconstructing white colorblindness. I then introduce a white reading of the Syro-Phoenician Woman in Mark 7:24-31. I read the passage and identify with Jesus as the man who has resources (healing) and is harassed by the woman. His initial resistance and ethnic slur mirror my white privilege as I am confronted with my own stereotypes. Ultimately the woman’s love for her daughter transforms Jesus. As a white reader I am also confronted by the experience of the “other” and called to embrace diversity. Jesus was not colorblind nor am I. I believe that in a nation full of racial tension, this paper can help promote diversity and help deconstruct white hegemony.