Minority and Postcolonial Criticism: Exegetical Explorations and Decolonial Approaches to Biblical Interpretation 

Programme

This workshop seeks to explore contemporary decolonial approaches to biblical interpretation. Coloniality refers to the long-standing patterns that emerged as a result of colonialism and that validate the production of knowledge through Western paradigms in an exclusive manner, which is still unfortunately still the case in Biblical studies.

Consequently, “decolonising biblical studies” entails identifying and deconstructing such patterns and paradigms while bringing to the fore hermeneutics nurtured by those who have been historically colonised. To illustrate how this process is currently developing in the biblical field, and also to help further it, this workshop invites various researchers in biblical studies to present papers in the following three areas:

1) Discussions of current approaches of decolonising biblical studies.

2) Reflections on the challenges “minority” scholars face in the field of biblical studies.

3) Exegetical explorations that integrate decolonial hermeneutical approaches of the Bible.

It is expected that the contributions and the ensuing dialogue will pinpoint the challenges and complexities of decolonising biblical studies in a way that fosters plurality of approaches and strategies.

Keywords:

Chairs

Daniel Lam
Edinburgh University

Suzanna Millar
Edinburgh University

Axolile Qina
Edinburgh University

Mireia Vidal i Quintero
Edinburgh University

Syracuse 2023 Call for Papers

A new one-time seminar, ‘Minority and Postcolonial Criticism: Exegetical Explorations and Decolonial Approaches to Biblical Interpretation’ will be hosting a session at the Conference Syracuse (Sicily) 2023. The first of its kind, we invite professional scholars, early career researchers, and postgraduate students from a number of disciplines to participate and to foster a discussion among “minority” scholars, allowing for decolonial work to be present in the field of Biblical Studies. We welcome a wide range of scholars and perspectives (i.e., the global south, LGBTS, disabilities studies, etc) to participate in the Decolonising Biblical Interpretation seminar session.

The following topics are a selection of possible focal points for research papers:

• The Global South (specific ethnic group such as Asian, African, Latinx) reading of any biblical text
• Postcolonial/decolonial readings
• LGBTQ related
• Disability studies
• Womanist/Mujerista readings
• Latin American/Indigenous/Asian/Asian American readings