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Pedagogy for the Privileged: Religious Education Practices for Border-crossing and Conversion A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Claremont School of Theology In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Anne Carter Walker May 2012 Copyright Anne Carter Walker ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii CLAREMONT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY This Dissertation, written by Anne Carter Walker under the direction of her Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of Claremont School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty Committee: Frank Rogers, Jr., Chairperson Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook Helene Slessarev-Jamir Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty: Philip Clayton May 2012 ABSTRACT This dissertation seeks to identify clues toward pedagogies of religious education/spiritual formation that can participate in transforming the dehumanizing practices of entitlement and domination associated with privilege. It identifies the nature of privilege as a habitus - an undetectable, socially-reproduced norm - and as an aspect of identity - a core aspect of the internalized ego. It argues that the cultivation of a border-crossing identity has the potential to be a space of transformation for privileged persons, where a resistance to the socialization and internalization of identities of privilege can begin. The works of those who reflect identities as "border-crossers" - Gloria Anzaldua, Jung Young Lee, and Virgilio Elizondo - are reviewed to elucidate an model of border-crossing identity. Because of the multiple barriers that often prohibit sustained change, the radical change associated with religious conversion can partner with educational models of consciousness-raising to assist in this re-crafting of identity. Practical theological models of conversion in the works of James Fowler, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, and Kathleen Talvacchia are drawn upon to understand how ongoing practices of conversion can be a resource for transforming identities of privilege. This project includes a qualitative, narrative-based study of eleven religious workers who are in positions of race- and/or class-based privilege relative to those they minister with. These are people who reflect a commitment to dismantling their own preoccupations with and practices of privilege, toward the development of identities that cross borders of culture and class. This study seeks to understand the socialization practices that contributed to these persons' identities of privilege, to elucidate how these persons have disrupted the dominant socialization practices that contribute to their privileged identities, to describe their self-understandings as border-crossers, and to identify the ways that these people have undertaken this transformation of identity as an act of conversion. The conclusion of this study seeks to identify clues toward religious educational pedagogies of conversion that might facilitate the transformation of identities of privilege toward identities of border-crossing, in the pursuit of power-sharing praxis. Dedicated to my father, Jerald Carter Walker, who taught me how to cross borders with much care and good humor. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem of Privilege 1 Border-crossing and Conversion 2 Contribution to the Field 4 A Practical Theological Project 8 Summary of the Argument 10 The Qualitative Study 12 A Grounded Theory Approach 13 My Role as Researcher 15 The Study's Participants 18 Data Collection 21 Possibilities and Limitations of this Research 22 CHAPTER 1. THE PROBLEM OF PRIVILEGE 25 What Is Privilege? 27 How We Are Socialized into Identities of Privilege 34 Privilege as an Identity 37 From a Dialectic of Dependence to a "Matrix of Domination" 41 Conclusion: Privilege as Piece of an Interlocking System of Social Production 45 CHAPTER 2. BORDER-CROSSING IDENTITIES 46 (Re)Defining Borders 47 Gloria Anzaldua: La Frontera 50 iii Jung Young Lee: Marginality 53 Virgilio Elizondo: A Universal Mestizaje 58 Conclusion: A Vision for the Construction of Border-crossing Identity 63 CHAPTER 3. BARRIERS TO IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION AND POSSIBILITIES FOR CONVERSION 68 Barriers to Change for People with Privilege 68 Education for Critical Thinking 74 The Resources of Religious Education and Spiritual Formation 77 The Potential of Conversion for Addressing Identity Change 78 A Note on Conversion, Coercion, and Power 79 Models of Conversion 81 Talvacchia's "Conversion to the Other" 82 Conde-Frazier's Borderland Spaces 86 Rambo and Farhadian's Heuristic 88 Conclusion: A Vision for Conversion 91 CHAPTER 4. QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS: CONVERSION FROM PRIVILEGE TO BORDER-CROSSING 93 Nature of Work 93 Awareness of Privilege 96 Conversion from Privilege to Border-crossing 98 Origins 98 Provoking Dissonance through Encounter and Crisis 102 Quest: A Search for New Options 106 iv Reinforcement: Spaces of Challenge, Accountability, and Forgiveness 108 Commitment: Confession and Forgiveness in Community 109 Acting Differently: Conversion as a Constant Choice 110 Reflections on Identities as Border-crossers 112 Conclusion: A Vision for Conversion and Border-crossing 116 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: CLUES TOWARD PRACTICES OF CONVERSION FROM PRIVILEGE TO BORDER-CROSSING 118 Sustained Encounters across Lines of Difference 119 Engaging Alternative Histories 120 Understanding Privilege and Socialization 120 Looking with Critical Eyes at Ourselves 120 Exposure to Archetypes of Border-crossers Who Have Dismantled Identities of Privilege 121 Spaces to Imaginatively Consider Alternate Social Realities and Self-Understandings 121 Mentors and Allies to Provide Challenge, Accountability, Forgiveness 122 V ocational Discernment 122 Taking Reflective Action 123 Conclusion: A Vision for Pedagogy 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY 124 v 1 Introduction The Problem of Privilege Privilege is the result of a system of social practices that awards unearned advantages to those who represent and identify with dominant groups. In the U.S., people in these groups—including men, the middle- and upper-classes, whites, Christians, U.S. citizens, heterosexuals, and the able-bodied—can express entitlement and domination simply by belonging to and identifying with these groups. Most significantly, these populations "have the power to increase the social burden on other groups."1 That the privileged do not name these inequities and share power with those who have been systematically denied power is a significant injustice that dehumanizes both the privileged and the oppressed. While those of us who hold significant privilege did not create this system, we nevertheless hold power in and benefit from this system, and we are called to justice in addressing it. Privilege is produced by social institutions as an undetectable norm that designates particular resources and services as the sole property of an elite minority. Individuals who are a part of elite groups are taught by social institutions to participate in the reproduction of privilege and to see the entitlements associated with privilege as normative. Because we are rewarded for our participation in this system, we internalize this socialization as part of our identity, a fundamental aspect of who we are. Because privilege is not just a part of our social practices, but also a piece of our identities, there are significant barriers to transformation. Our compulsion to seek our own comfort via practices of entitlement and domination means that while we might ' Mary Elizabeth Hobgood, Dismantling Privilege: An Ethics of Accountability (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2000), 3.