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| The Dresden train station where mass deomonstration took place in October 1989 |
This was the first time that I had visited a city in the
former East Germany. I looked forward to learning about the revolution of 1989
that changed the Eastern Bloc. We were shown a documentary about the mass
demonstration in October of 1989. The former mayor of Dresden, a local priest,
and others who had participated in the demonstration came to share their
experience with us. They talked about the contribution of the Women for Peace
movement and the roles of the churches in providing a space for people to
discuss social reform.
The outcome of the demonstration in East Germany was
drastically different from what happened at Tiananmen Square in Beijing earlier
in the year, when the Chinese military crushed the students and demonstrators.
The demonstration in Dresden was largely peaceful and the police had dialogues
with leaders of the people. In November, the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled
the end of the Cold War era.
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| Joerg Rieger, Kwok Pui Lan, Ulrike Auga from Germany and Teresa Forcades i Vila from Spain |
Joerg Rieger and I spoke on “Occupy Heaven: Are God,
Religion, and Politics beyond Rescue?” at a public forum during the conference.
We were asked to speak about the Occupy Movement and the theological issues it
had raised, based on our book Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude.
This was the third time that I have attended a conference of
the Society and I noticed several important changes. Spanish has become an
official language of the Society, together with German and English. About 20
women from Spain attended the conference and their participation was
significant. A sizeable group came from Eastern European countries, including
Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
In the past, women in Western Europe dominated in the
meeting. The leaders of the Society have worked hard to include women from
Southern and Eastern Europe. Younger researchers and graduate students were
also given space to present their research.
The conference had three sub-themes: postcolonialism,
post-secularism, and queer visions. I was glad to see that postcolonial and
queer issues have been taken up seriously in the discussion, which I have not
seen so much in previous meetings. Musa Dube from Botswana was invited to speak
about postcolonial feminist interpretation of the Bible, while Mayra Rivera
Rivera from Harvard Divinity School spoke about the key challenges for
theologies of the body in the twenty-first century. Janet Jakobsen from
Columbia University used the example of domestic work to illustrate the
intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality in thinking about new
economies and solidarities.
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| Dresden was heavily bombed in WWII. The Church of Our Lady was rebuilt and reopened in 2005 |
In addition to the plenaries, there were many panels. Two
papers were of particular interest to me. Aurica Nutt of Germany presented a
paper on queer ecologies and Christian theologies. Drawing from queer
ecologies, she discussed why Christian theologies must analyze their
discrimination against “unnatural behavior” and against the environment. An
interesting point is how queer animals challenge us to think about “nature” and
“queerness” differently.
Niki Papageorgiou and Angeliki Ziaka from Greece presented a
paper on “Postcolonial Feminist Theological Discourse: Muslim and Christian
Interactions.” They talked about the important work done by Islamic feminists
on reinterpretation of Qur’an and Shari’a and why feminist theology and
reinterpretation of religion could contribute to postcolonial political
discourse. They also identified the similarities and differences of Muslim and
Christian feminist movements.
European women in theological research face many
difficulties and challenges. Jobs are scarce and many with doctorates cannot
find teaching positions and have to work in churches and organizations. There
seems to be a serious “backlash” or re-traditionalizing of religious
traditions. Feminist theologians are increasingly under more pressure. During
the conference, participants identified strategies and ways to support one
another.
One of the goals I had in going to Dresden was to learn more
about changes of women’s lives in Eastern Europe. I bought two books to help me
understand the transformation after 1989. Gendering Post-Socialist
Transition examines the effects of social and political changes on
relationships between women and men, gender roles and representations, and
normative discourses about femininity and masculinity in eleven countries in
Central- and South Eastern Europe.
Gender and Religion in Central and Eastern Europe
contributes to our understanding of theoretical and empirical approaches to the
study of gender and religion in post-communist societies. In the United States,
we do not have many opportunities learning from women in post-socialist
countries. I hope to learn more about the transformation of women’s lives in
Central and Eastern Europe in the future.
