The panel “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin” examines the complex dynamics of power, resistance, and transformation within marginalized communities. Through diverse lenses of art, theology, documentary, and literature, the panelists explore how narratives of violence and nonviolence intersect at the margins of society, reshaping identities, reclaiming histories, and redefining theological and literary landscapes. The first paper examines the intersection of art and theology by juxtaposing Browder’s monument, “Mothers of Gynecology,” against Sims's monument. By analyzing Browder's work's aesthetic and activist dimensions, the paper highlights the power of art to challenge historical injustices and provoke theological reflection. This second paper discusses the emergence of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Movement within the LGBTQ+ community, redefining the traditional Black church. Through the lens of a documentary filmmaker, the paper documents personal transformation and spiritual renewal and showcases how marginalized communities are reshaping religious landscapes on a global scale. This third paper reevaluates Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s novel The River Between and proposes him as an ethnographic writer through a fresh interpretation of his novelistic work. By examining the novel's historical and imaginative functions, the paper positions his work within broader discussions of religion, literature, and indigenous narratives, like Chinua Achebe and Mongo Beti.
This paper explores how the engagement of art influences theological research through Michelle Browder’s “Mothers of Gynecology” monument in Montgomery, Alabama. One mile away from Browder’s work, Montgomery’s capitol commemorates Dr. J. Marion Sims as the Father of Gynecology, even as his discoveries were made by operating on enslaved women without their consent or anesthesia. In contrast to Sims’s monument, “Mothers of Gynecology” enacts the sacred space to remember the true Mothers of Gynecology: Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy. In conversation with theological aesthetics and Kelly Brown Douglas’s Stand Your Ground, this paper will: 1) closely analyze the aesthetics of “Mothers of Gynecology” as a primary source for theological writing and 2) demonstrate how the monument created the space for ongoing activist engagement. Ultimately, I argue that Browder’s “Mothers of Gynecology” evinces the power of art to act as radical re-education, and thus as a space of necessary theological reflection.
In this paper I share my journey as a documentary filmmaker and photographer documenting the work of Bishop Yvette Flunder and The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Movement. The movement on the margins of the traditional Black church is happening in this LGBTQ+ community. Over the last three years I have been co-creating with my LGBTQ+ siblings a six part documentary series along with portraits and documentary photos mapping the growth of this movement. This work has transformed me as I have seen God birth the Black church anew in this terrain. In this paper I share how a cisgender, heterosexual Black male was called to do this work and how I found God anew in my new faith home with my LGBTQ+ siblings. Moreover I share the story of this new church and how it is manifesting itself on a global landscape.
| Constance Furey | cfurey@indiana.edu | View |