Queering Ecclesiology and Rites

Across Asia and Latin America we are witnessing the emergence of queer faith-based communities in very dissimilar contexts and with very different histories. Exploring the way that these communities address issues of ecclesiology and rites would benefit students to explore the ways that our global village is moving in terms of the intersections among religion, gender, and sexuality. The course investigates what are the struggles and mechanisms that these communities have to cope in their context with ingrained homophobia, transphobia, lesbophobia and the like. At the same time, it will examine how those communities enact interreligious and multireligious dialogue and rituals and how faith and activism are coupled to counter oppressive discourses and colonial performativities in their own situations. The course also features guest ministers and activists from different context to whom we can turn to learn from their experiences and who will be “present” every class through recorded videos.