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Intergroup Dialogue and Religious Identity: Addressing Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in Us Higher Education

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Intergroup Dialogue and Religious Identity: Addressing Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in Us Higher Education ABSTRACT Title of Document: INTERGROUP DIALOGUE AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY: ADDRESSING CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE AND RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION IN US HIGHER EDUCATION Sachi Teresa Edwards, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Directed By: Dr. Jing Lin, Professor Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Interfaith initiatives are increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses around the country. In large part, this trend responds both to ongoing religious violence throughout the world and to increasing religious tension in the United States. The goal of these interfaith initiatives is to increase awareness of different religious identities and to bolster interfaith collaboration. For this research, I analyze a campus-based, curricular interfaith dialogue program that utilizes the Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) pedagogy to increase student understanding of privilege, oppression, and social injustice pertaining to religious identity. This project represents one of the first known empirical studies of religion-themed IGD, as current literature predominately focuses on race and gender. Using qualitative research methods including participant-observation, in-depth interviews, informal interviews, and document analysis, I present a multiple case study of three undergraduate interfaith dialogue courses. Findings suggest that (a) religious minority students are easily marginalized in the IGD process; (b) Christian privilege is a difficult concept for both students and dialogue facilitators to comprehend, even for those who readily recognize other forms of privilege (i.e., White, male, heterosexual); and (c) religious identity is also a difficult concept for both students and dialogue facilitators to understand because they think of religion as a set of philosophical beliefs, rather than as a social identity deeply intertwined with one’s culture. Implications for research and theory include (a) the need to further advance theoretical discourse related to Christian privilege and religious identity, (b) the importance of expanding educational initiatives seeking to promote awareness and understanding of these issues, and (c) the obligation for interfaith dialogue practitioners, faculty, and other higher education professionals to be more sensitive to the experiences of students with minority religious identities. INTERGROUP DIALOGUE AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY: ADDRESSING CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE AND RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION IN US HIGHER EDUCATION by Sachi Teresa Edwards Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Professor Jing Lin, Chair Professor Noah Drezner Professor Sahar Khamis Professor Steven J. Klees Professor Linda Valli © Copyright by Sachi Teresa Edwards 2014 Dedication To Grandma, Maude Setsuko Okamoto Takahashi, and Grandpa, Kenichi Takahashi. I left Hawai‘i and started this PhD program thinking (hoping) I would come back home to live near you two again before you left. Alas, that did not happen. I hope that the work I did while I was away made you proud and honored the work you did in your lives to get me to there. I miss you both dearly. This is for you. ii Acknowledgements There’s a Japanese saying that is particularly appropriate for this moment: okage sama de. An attempt at a literal translation might look something like, “It is because of your help that I am able to succeed.” But it’s more than a saying; it’s a sentiment that is integral to the Japanese outlook on life. It’s an awareness, one that was instilled in me at a young age, that everything you do and achieve in life is possible because of the efforts of those who came before you. While a dissertation is theoretically the work of a single individual, I recognize that I did not do this alone. I am afforded the luxury of pursuing education at this level because of the people, families, and communities that have paved, and continue to pave, my way. To all of you, including those I have never met, okage sama de. In particular, I’d like to acknowledge my parents, my first teachers, for cultivating my inquisitive nature and my activist spirit. Their unconditional love and support eased the burden of this rigorous dissertation process tremendously. The same goes for my brother, Ravi, who uplifts me, keeps me grounded, and inspires me to be my best. And also the rest of my family, related by either blood or love, that all contribute to the fabric of my life that keeps me protected throughout my various endeavors. Of course, I owe many thanks to my advisor, Jing. I was introduced to her at a time when I was jaded by academia and convinced that no one in the ivory tower would give me the space, let alone the encouragement, to bring forth the issues I cared about in the manner I felt was most appropriate. She proved me wrong. It is because of her that I decided to move forth with the PhD process in the first place, and it is because iii of her that I have enjoyed it so much. The rest of my committee – Steve, Sahar, Noah, and Linda – and the rest of the faculty I have had the pleasure of studying with have also positively impacted my graduate studies. Similarly, my fellow graduate students, as well as my colleagues in Academic Achievement Programs and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, have all helped make my journey through this program one of great personal, professional, and spiritual growth. Another integral component of this dissertation is my husband, Brent. We like to joke that because I left my job to write full-time this past year that he was my dissertation writing fellowship, but in reality he was so much more than that. He was my second advisor, my cheerleader, my personal assistant, my guidance counselor, my travel partner, and everything else I needed him to be. I’m not going to say that I couldn’t have done it without him, but it sure would have been a lot harder! My in-laws have been such a strong support system for me too; I’m lucky to have such a large network of them! They made me feel at home when I was far, far away from home, and continue to make me feel loved no matter where in the world I am. I came to Maryland without even being able to point it out on a map, and ended up with a family that I am deeply grateful for. To those I mention here, and those I failed to acknowledge above: okage sama de. iv Table of Contents Dedication ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 Why Interfaith Dialogue in Education? .................................................................... 3 Promoting Religious Literacy ............................................................................... 4 Attending to Students’ Spiritual Development ..................................................... 6 Broadening the Discourse on Diversity and Social Justice .................................. 7 Religious Identity and Inequality in US Higher Education .................................... 10 Current Trends in Interfaith Student Programming ............................................ 11 Religious Identity Inclusion Beyond the Dominant Abrahamic Faiths .............. 14 Recognizing Christian Privilege ......................................................................... 16 Selecting the Appropriate Terminology .................................................................. 20 Religious Identity ................................................................................................ 20 Religious Oppression .......................................................................................... 22 Review of Dissertation Contents ............................................................................ 24 Chapter 2: Philosophical and Theoretical Foundations of Interfaith Dialogue .. 26 Review of Theological Concepts ............................................................................ 26 Exclusivism, Inclusivism, and Parallelism ......................................................... 27 Pluralism ............................................................................................................. 29 The Purpose of Interfaith Dialogue ..................................................................... 31 Pedagogical and Practice-Based Theory ................................................................. 33 Peace Education .................................................................................................. 34 Negative and Positive Peace ............................................................................... 35 The Causal Flow of Violence ............................................................................. 36 The Contact Hypothesis and Intergroup Contact Theory ................................... 38 Social Justice Education ......................................................................................... 43 Critical Theory .................................................................................................... 44 Critical Pedagogy ................................................................................................ 45 Critical Identity Studies .....................................................................................
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