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About RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

Postcolonial Theologians Are Sooo Mean!

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sarah poco theo

(click on the picture above to see the convo)

I have been reading a lot of backlash from white evangelicals against postcolonialism and empire studies in the field of religion. The criticisms I have read and heard have bordered on the ridiculous but one that seems to be doing well is “postcolonials are just plain mean people.” In my experience with conservative evangelical editors, many of the concepts related to critical race theory and postcolonial criticism, to them, come off as offensive and from a place of anger. If you don’t want to deal with your blindspots as a scholar, the best thing for you to do is to resort to name-calling and painting dissidents as “emotional.” No matter how many sources are cited, statistics given, post-colonial/anti-empire is labelled as “too political” just because it isn’t mainstream. And ‘scuse me, what theology or theory or method ISN’T political? kay?

Postcolonial theologians would reject any notion to the idea that those in power get to #1, set the terms of the debate, #2, get to define for the oppressed what liberation and reconciliation looks like: Exhibit A.

Postcolonial theology in a broad, Christian perspective is to take the idea of God as a Personal, Free, and Suffering Being serious, to reject the notion that people are to be treated as things:

“Postcolonial scriptural reading reminds us that theology cannot be divorced form the real lives and deaths of indigenous peoples, slaves, women, children, and the poorest of the poor. God is love. Love attempts to care for all people. Love considers how power affects the lives of people.”

- Gabriel Salguero, “The Cross or Caesar?: A Postcolonial Query

The post in POST-colonial, as I argue time and again, and Salguero does as well, is a sign of hope, that there is life AFTER the fact of colonialism’s history, and that there is a way, a better way, in life AFTER the so called “triumph” of neoliberal economics and the neocolonialism of the multinational corporate-driven state.

“Our preferences aren’t formed in an intellectual void. The Pentecostalism of the global South has a distinct history, greatly influenced by the legacy of Western colonialism. The relationship between the South and the West hasn’t been shaped by dialogue, but by imperialism, and if dialogue is the goal, the onus of compromise is on the West, not on the South. Additionally, dialogue is impossible as long as the West continues to assert its intellectual superiority to the South. The Pentecostalism of the Global South is correctly considered a syncretic belief system, and that syncretism ought to be viewed as a colonized culture’s attempt to retain agency in the face of Western Christianity’s theological colonialism.”

- Sarah at Tony Jones and the Need for a Postcolonial Christianity

Yes, scathing words! Condemning illusions of dialogue that ignore real, concrete histories of power relations! Ooooh sooo mean!!!

Youre-a-Mean-One-Mr.-Grinch[1]

RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

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Listening.

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“Black theology opens up for the theology of the whites the unique chance to free itself from the constitutional blindness of white society, and to become Christian theology. If we listen seriously to the stories of blacks, if we try to understand black theology, we begin to see ourselves and our own history through the eyes of the people who have suffered and are still suffering under our culture and our church. The person who has incurred guilt can no doubt admit his guilt, but only his victims know what suffering his injustice has caused. So we only become free of our own blindness if we see ourselves through the eyes of our victims and identify and identify with them, because it was with them that the Son of Man already identified himself (Matthew 25). White Christians should not, one day, have to ask unsuspectingly, ‘Lord, when did we see you black?’ Christ lies before their door as a black. Black theology makes our own task clear in the struggle against the evils of racism, which oppress both the victims and the perpetrators, even if in different ways.

But people who are personally involved with black theology are also asking whether to describe blacks only as victims of the ruling whites does not fixate them on the whites in a way that has negative consequences. Black people in America are more than merely descendents of the black slaves. They have also brought into America their own culture and their own forms of religion. So whenever black people in America remember who they are, this brings to the surface their rich culture, even though in many cases it has been suppressed.”

- Jurgen Moltmann, Experiences In Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology

I thought I would just share a random Moltmann quote on race and theology, you know, JUST RANDOMLY! ;-) ;-)

RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

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Star Trek Into Darkness Review Part 2: Whitewashing Khan Means Plotholes & Mediocre Science Fiction

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“Is this a military operation? Is this what this is now? I thought we were explorers?”- Bones

“I’m not J.J. Abrams, who’s ultimately responsible. I’m just his Asian puppet. Which, by the way, is also the title of my autobiography.”

-John Cho, Interview at Straight.Com

oops white khan

Image from Perez Hilton

Please see my first post: Star Trek Into Darkness Review Part 1: What I Enjoyed

To be honest, this blog post has been months in the making. The content of which has been stewing in my brain for a long time. I grew up a self-taught Star Trek fan, watching The Next Generation and Star Trek: The Animated Series with my brothers, and fanboying every Saturday about Deep Space Nine. DS9 holds a special place in my heart for two reasons: first, it appealed to my love of science and critical thinking, addressing the economic/Ferengi issues of the day, and second, true to the Star Trek legacy of diverse casts (not just tokens, but major players in the story), DS9 had the ship lead by Commander Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks). I admit to being bitter I will never see a DS9 movie (I still have hope), but the stories were rather inaccessible and the dialogue was not on a 4th grade reading level. Sorry but not sorry. DS9 helped me to escape from my experience of marginalization as an African American male, who was smart, the guy who jocks tried to cheat off of (and they failed at that), in a school system and society where I was told over and over “No you can’t”, in more ways than one, that I could not. DS9 told me, “Yes you can. You can be great regardless of how others see the color of your skin.” If it weren’t for Jesus and DS9, I don’t know where I would be.

When I heard that J.J. Abrams was going to make a Star Trek trilogy a few years ago, I really was apathetic. I had a long long history of facebook statuses dedicated to critiquing LOST, its fandom, but I held out a glimmer of hope since I really enjoyed Abrams’ ALIAS. I saw Star Trek 2009 opening weekend in theaters, and it wasn’t half bad. But as I keep going back, there are a number of visual cues through out the film that, the three of the first four scenes in fact, are all fights, they are all pro-jock, anti-intellectual lens-flare-filled action sequences. This was not going to be the Star Trek I knew, of thoughtful dialogue; it was going to be IDIOCRACY’S version of TOS, with J.J. Abrams playing the part of President Camacho.

Fast forward to last year, rumors of the Star Trek sequel said it was going to be “darker” but with just as much high flying action. The most disturbing of the rumors was that Abrams had recruited Benedict Cumberpatch to play Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1980s TOS movie) and season 1 episode, “Space Seed.” In the episode “Space Seed,” Khan is identified as a political tyrant from India in the 1990s, possibly Sikh. In other words, Khan is a POC powerful villain who outmatches Captain Kirk, and it takes a betrayal and the sacrifice of one of Kirk’s closest friends to defeat Khan. Our white U.S. American hero is defeated by a racial minority who believes in empire building and racial superiority. In the post-World War II context of Star Trek: The Original Series, the idea of additional World Wars was something that was held by the audience. Khan is a symbol both of what the future that we dread, and that a Man of Color could be part of an authoritarian regime (or to put it nicely, be an ACTIVE participant in determining the future as a SUBJECT) was part of what Roddenberry’s TOS+film was trying to envision.

Now, yes, I know there’s a lot of problems with Richardo Montalbon ( who is of Spanish and Mexican heritage playing a person who was geographically located on the Indian continent), but the message remains consistent: A person of color can portray a complex, sympathetic antagonist, one who puts our leader on the brink, and who REMAINS part of the cast in what is considered one of the greatest (if not the greatest) science fiction films of all time.

Space Seed+ Wrath of Khan are far superior efforts in storytelling, they were not dependent upon CGI, mass-media hype, or unnecessary violence or sexual exploitation for that matter. Speaking of sex and gender issues, in spite of having Zoe Saldana play a strong Lt. Uhura, this movie managed to FAIL the Bechdel Test. There is not a scene where there are at least two women talking to each other, let alone conversating about topics outside of the male protagonist. There were plenty of women featured, just like with racial minorities, but outside of the opening sequence where Into Darkness barely manages to pass the Race/POC Bechdel, no interaction between minorities or women. J.J. Abrams’ dumbed down, jocked up bro-culture “update” of Star Trek actually goes backwards when it comes to gender and race. Women and racial minorities are nothing but props as the future is lead by white male political players.

white khan

Seriously, why did Abrams choose to lie over and over again about him whitewashing the story of Khan? He knew what he was doing, just as Christopher Nolan whitewashed at least two (I would argue three) Batman villains/antagonists, Talia Al Ghul, and Bane, just as the heroes in live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender were whitewashed , and just like the movie based on the true story of the World Trade Center, where two actual black heroes were replaced by white actors. .

Hollywood producers, directors, and executives do not believe that people of color can perform these roles, and they do not believe that (majority white) audiences will connect characters who are People of Color. In other words, it boils down to profit, choosing profit over people. When one talks about whitewashing history, she is referring to denying the contributions of non-whites in a society, as well as denying that those people ever had any agency to begin with. They are the passive recipients of whites’ activity. Every time you whitewash a movie, you are sending a Public Service Announcement to racial minorities that white bodies are more valuable than the bodies of the people of color. J.J. Abrams, in short, by whitewashing Khan, is informing people of color that we CAN’T; we don’t belong in the movie industry, we can’t be valid actors in history. That’s where Abrams is highly mistaken. I know Star Trek. Unlike JJ Abrams, I love Star Trek. And according to DS9, I can!

For additional criticisms such as this, I would recommend:

Why not pick an Indian to play Khan in Star Trek? by Deepanjana Pal of First Post Bollywood

Star Trek: Into Whiteness at Racebending

A few thoughts on Star Trek: Into Darkness by Racialicious

And my personal favorite, The Whitewashing Khan Tumblr

RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

More Posts - Website - Twitter

You probably have a few questions

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RACING TO THE BOTTOM!

About the latest badge I have added to the sidebar:

despised ones logo cross

I was invited to join a Facebook group for Jesus disciples who also happen to blog. I think this post by Kelly J. Youngblood summed up the group’s philosophy quite nicely:

“And yes, I will fail at times. I will sometimes not be strong or courageous enough to do what is right, to follow what Jesus calls me to do. But being despised and practicing humility can teach us to put ourselves all on a level playing field. Not one of us is better than another. We are all fighting not to be at the top, but to be at the bottom.”

To see the rest:

The Despised Ones at Renewing Your Mind blog

RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

More Posts - Website - Twitter

Star Trek Into Darkness Review Part One: What I Enjoyed

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SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT, AS FEW AS POSSIBLE IN THIS ONE THOUGH

English: J. J. Abrams at the 2010 Comic Con in...

English: J. J. Abrams at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For my movie review of Star Trek Into Darkness, I want to try something different. I want to start doing two-part reviews for movies (well, probably more than likely blockbuster films), starting with the positive, what I liked, and then the more critical end for the second. If it works out, maybe I’ll continue doing it this way. Critical fandom studies and blogs get cut less slack than it already is, maybe this is an alternative way of doing things. We shall see.

J.J. Abrams‘ take on Star Trek emphasizes more style over substance; depending where you stand, you can either live with it or just grit your teeth endure it for the remainder of this trilogy. Into Darkness was filled with action sequences and stunts that had the audience sitting on the edge of its seat.  I walked into the fan a long-time (eight years I believe) critic of JJ Abrams, and probably walked out of the theater even less so. Well, okay, just a little bit less so.

Into Darkness passes the Race/POC Bechdel test, which for those unfamiliar is just a way of measuring racial diversity of a film. How so? There has to be one scene where 2 people of color discuss anything but (usually) white protagonist. That simple, really. The Help barely passes. No, I’m dead serious, it was like 90 minutes into that movie before it happened. Into Darkness within the first 2 scenes I believe had a scene with Sulu and Uthura talking about the U.S.S Enterprise. It was a pleasant surprise. Sulu and Uthura did have larger roles this time around. Sulu served as acting captain at one point; Lieutenant Uthura was more than just Spock’s trophy gal-pal.  In fact, she saves Spock’s and Kirk’s life not once, but twice, first on Chronos when the Klingons had the our trio in the corner, and then at the end, it was her love that prevented Spock from destroying the one thing that could save Kirk.

Noel Clarke

Noel Clarke (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I also admit, I Doctor Who fanboyed when Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke_ came across the screen. I just loved Mickeys/Rickey’s story arc in Doctor Who, and it was so much better to have a real black sci legend in a Star Trek movie than ahem Tyler Perry.

As far as acting performances go, I would like to give a shout out to Karl Urban as Bones, Simon Pegg as Scotty, for these two made me want to feel like I was watching a Star Trek film. Benedict Cumberpatch as John Harrison was just complex, brilliant, just awesome.

Thus ends part 1 of my review of Into Darkness. Next time, on the 300 CLUB, we will examine Rod’s issues and criticisms of Star Trek Into Darkness.

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RodtRDH

Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

More Posts - Website - Twitter