Moderator: Jane Naomi Iwamura (University of the West)
Panelists: Tracy Tiemeier (Loyola Marymount University), Funie Hsu (Cal State San Jose), Jane Hong (Occidental College), Rudy Busto (UC Santa Barbara), Munir Jiwa (Graduate Theological Union)

(optional graduate student mentoring session during lunch)

Panel 1: Theology and the Hermeneutics of Recognition (602 Social Sciences Building)

Haruka Umetsu Cho, Santa Clara University
“Erasure of Colonial Memories, ‘Forgiveness,’ and Futures: Reading Ken Liu, ‘The Reborn’”

Karis Ryu, Yale University
“Our Heathen Language: Asian American Poetry as Primary Sources in Studies of American Religion”

Joshua Garcia, The Graduate Theological Union
“How Asian Americans Read Themselves in the Bible”

Shijie Lu, Fuller Theological Seminary
“Learning From Our Eccentric Uncles: Asian American Liberation Theology and Evangelicals in the Bay Area”

Annie Li, University of Oxford
“Calvin Chinn’s Theological Formation and Activism in the Civil Rights Movement”

Panel 2: The Global and the Local (554 Social Sciences Building)

Seokweon Jeon, Harvard University
“The Imperial Turn in American Religious History and the Importance of An APA Religious Critique”

Shirley Lung, University of Denver
“Transnational Taiwanese Christian Networks and Social Capital Creation”

Rachel Lim, Texas A&M University
“Taekwondo Immigrants: Transforming Gender, Spirituality, and Violence in Cold War America”

Steven Zhang and Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University
“How, When, and Why are Second Generation Asian American Christians Developing Affinity for Diverse congregations and Migrating towards Multi-ethnic Churches”

Panel 3: (Re)queering Ancestral Spiritual Lineages (557 Social Sciences Building)

Kristine Chong, Union Theological Seminary
“Re/connecting and Reimagining Korean Shamanic Practices”

Kai Ngu, Yale Divinity School
“To be a Vessel: On Transmitting Words in Taoist Spirit Rituals”

Quincy Yangh, Yale School of Environment
“Queer Resurgence in Hmong Shamanism”

Workshop 1: Revitalizing and Reimagining Healing in APA Communities: APA Spiritual Practices for Processing Moral Injury (607 Social Sciences Building)

Facilitators:
Kristine Chong and Rita Nakashima Brock, The Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America

This workshop will explore APA religious and spiritual rituals for processing moral injury, drawing from traditional and adapted APA practices as sources for revitalizing and reimagining personal and collective healing in APA communities. We will focus on two traditions: 1) Korean folk rituals (i.e. gut) related to processing han that is facilitated by shamans and also a concept in Korean liberation theology, and 2) Naikan, a Jodo Shinshyu Buddhist reflective meditation process adapted by Ishin Yoshimoto, a devout Buddhist, in the 1940s, to support prisoners, which has both an intensive weeklong version and a daily practice version.

Workshop 2: Clips and Discussion of Film “Chinatown Rising: Badass Asian Americans in the Civil Rights Movement” (554 Social Sciences Building)

Facilitators:
Josh Chuck, co-director, producer of Chinatown Rising, Rev. Harry Chuck, Presbyterian minister, former Executive Director of Donaldina Cameron House, co-director, cinematographer and producer of Chinatown Rising, Rev. Norman Fong, Presbyterian minister and former Executive Director of Chinatown Community Development Center

Join Co-directors and Producers of the award-winning documentary film CHINATOWN RISING, as well as well-known activists featured in the film, as they share powerful excerpts and speak on Asian American activism and the role faith played in the movement during the 1960s and 70’s. Many of the scenes relate to the challenges of today’s climate of AAPI Hate and immigration challenges, and participants will leave the session having witnessed vivid examples of solidarity between Asian Americans and African Americans, intergenerational community organizing, and social justice activism.

Workshop 3: (Re)excavation, not (Re)interpretation: Interreligious Approaches to Constructing Theologies of Queer & Trans Affirmation (557 Social Sciences Building)

Facilitator:
Harmeet Kaur Kamboj

In a moment when the lives and wellbeing of trans Americans are unjustly up to political debate, queer and trans people of all traditions and none must defend themselves dually: first, against conservative religious arguments for their eradication, and second, from liberal secular arguments that faith serves no role in movements for queer and trans liberation. In this workshop, participants will arm themselves theologically against both of these assertions by grounding in the truth that queerness is and has always been affirmed in our traditions. In reframing the project of interpretation as a project of theological archaeology, the presenter, a nonbinary Sikh, will demonstrate how persistent curiosity and excavation within one’s own tradition and others opens the door for robust sacred affirmation for trans and queer people.

Excursion 1: Berkeley Food Tour (additional cost: please budget approximately $25)

Excursion 2: Berkeley Walking Tour

Excursion 3: Tour of UC Berkeley Asian American Library Religion Archives