Collaborative Fellows
Aly Benítez
PhD student, Religion, Psychology and Culture, Vanderbilt University
Love and Outrage: The Vision of Movement Chaplaincy in Social Change
The secularization of society demands that we meet people where they are in order to explore, create, and nurture spirituality. In response to the emergence of this need, Movement Chaplaincy engages the work of spiritual accompaniment to justice movements and their leaders. In this presentation, you will hear the voices and experiences of Nashville-based Movement Chaplains who have stepped into a vision of justice and social change that walks the line between love and outrage.
IMAGO DIOS: IMAGINING THE FACE OF GOD IN TODOS LOS NINOS INMIGRANTES DE DIOS
This talk focuses on Karla McKanders’ project producing a fictional children’s book on a Garífuna child fleeing violence and seeking refugee status in the United States. The project presents a counternarrative to current media stories and rhetoric that have rendered immigrant children invisible. The talk explores how through art and storytelling the voices of lesser known migrant children can transform the narratives to which we are accustomed.
Karla McKanders, J.D.
MTS candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School
R. Scott Mitchell, JD, LLM
M.Div candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Protecting the Church from Attack
The project looks at multiple attacks on Christian churches in the United States, including bombings and arsons of majority African American congregations, with an eye on how future clergy can better prepare for or respond to attacks on their facilities or parishioners.
Race and Religion in the City: Gentrification and the Shifting Landscape of Religious Life in Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN is a city in the midst of change. One of its most pressing challenges is gentrification. Using qualitative research methods, this project examines how gentrification impacts relationships within and between religious communities. Given the links between gentrification and racism, this project asks how religious communities experience racism and/or racial justice in the context of a gentrifying city.
Debbie Brubaker
PhD student, Theological Studies, Vanderbilt University
Quentin Cox
M.Div candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Youth Entrepreneurship Training Program
With a focus on economic justice, the program provides minority high school students with hands-on experience starting a business. Students will learn from minority mentors and business leaders throughout the academic semester as they move from ideation to implementation. The program will also provide students with $500 to help launch their enterprise.
Becoming a Catalyst: Faith-Based Antiracism Education
My research explores how Christian groups envision and enact antiracism goals, and particularly how they employ faith and community building in their efforts. In this presentation, I will discuss my dissertation research about Episcopal efforts for antiracism and introduce a community-based antiracism curriculum that I co-developed with Leah Lomotey Nakon. This curriculum is a product of our commitment to public scholarship and public theology, and uses critical race theory and social justice pedagogy to prompt participants to reflect on their role in the system of racial oppression. In this presentation I will discuss the theory that undergirds the curriculum, our pedagogical practices, and some impacts of the program.
Sara M Perisho Eccleston, M.S.
PhD candidate, Community Research and Action, Vanderbilt University, Peabody College
Hunter S. Rhodes
M.Div, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Building A Nation: Uncovering the History of the People of Color who Built and Build America
Building A Nation seeks to take seriously the claim that Black folks quite literally built this country. The project does this by uncovering the enslaved and incarcerated woodworkers of the past and present to recognize their humanity, give them credit for their labor, and tell their stories.
The Young Achievers Movement (Y.A.M.) Project
The Young Achievers Movement (Y.A.M.) Project was created to empower marginalized youth in grades 9-12 for success in school and life by supporting them in developing job skills, college and career readiness, cultural awareness, health/wellness, and leadership development. This presentation will highlight the current need for this program and the importance of awakening the leadership capacities of our youth.
Shameka Cathey, Ph.D
M.Div Candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Tremaine Sails-Dunbar
M.Div, Vanderbilt Divinity School
LionHeart Nashville: Increasing Access to Mental Health Services in Twelve Black Churches
According to social stress theory, a stratified class system introduces higher levels of stress to non-dominant groups, which in turn increases their risk for developing acute and chronic mental health disorders. Through auxiliary services, Black churches have mitigated stressful environments reducing stigmatization, positively influencing the psychological outcomes of African Americans with acute mental illness. Very little has been done, however, to attenuate social stressors associated with chronic mental health disorders. In my project, I sought to increase the presence of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) within Black churches, reducing the stress of stigmatization for those with chronic conditions through providing information about symptomologies associated with mental illness and community health resources. I found that although some pastors are accepting of the inclusion of mental health programming within their church, discussions surrounding serious mental health disorders remains an impediment in Black religious spaces. I concluded that if social stress theory is to be utilized as a conceptual framing for addressing more serious mental health conditions in Black religious spaces, then more attention should be given to its’ incorporation with the self-efficacy model, which encourages an internal locus of control and problem-oriented coping strategies.
Tasha S. Mitchell, M.Ed
M.Div candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Bridging the Gap: Free Financial Services for the Black Community
My presentation will explore various theological and racial justice implications relating to economic stability and investment in the Black community. This discussion will include the following: historical context for the economic issues affecting the Black community, relevant data and statistics, spiritual connections to the Christian faith and Black Church, reflections from the first financial literacy and estate planning event I hosted, impacts of the tornado and pandemic on my project, and my plan to move forward with this work.
Htoi San Lu
PhD Student, Theological Studies, Vanderbilt University
Racial Justice Conversation with the First Generation of Kachin Immigrants/Refugees in Nashville, Tennessee
This project came about in response to the Tennessee Kachin Baptist community’s state of being unaware of the harmful immigration policies being perpetrated by the current U.S. administration. To address this, I embarked on a conversation with the first generation of Kachin people at the Tennessee Kachin Baptist Church (TNKBC) on the ways Kachin refugees and immigrants are racialized in the U.S. through immigration. Overall, my objective with this project is to promote awareness on the need for racial justice in our Kachin Christian community.
Knowing Whence I Came: Deconstructing Whiteness in my Self and my Family History
In 1985, James Baldwin charged white-identified Americans, “To do your first works over…Go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it…and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself: but know whence you came.” Elisabeth’s project is a response to this call, voiced not only by Baldwin, but by many Black leaders in various ways throughout the past four centuries. Her project aims to deconstruct whiteness by illuminating how and why her Dutch, Christian Reformed ancestors precisely assimilated when they immigrated to North America, by acknowledging how white supremacy was taught, learned, and weaponized within her family over time, by knowing and sharing her true, lived family history and culture, and by exploring how her generation can intentionally dismantle white supremacy through actions, such as reparations, and by adapting new ways of being. To this end, Elisabeth conducted twenty-five interviews with family members from three generations in the Chicago area, Southern Ontario, Canada, and The Netherlands in the summer of 2019. In this presentation, Elisabeth will overview her methodology and learnings, and share some of her family's story through videos and photos.
Elisabeth Geschiere
M.Div Candidate, Vanderbilt Divinity School