Insurrectionist Wisdoms

podcastOPTalksBooksSpiritNations2023 Book Prize
Written By Open Plaza

Dr. Neomi De Anda talks to 2023 HTI Book Prize winner Dr. Marlene M. Ferreras, whose work looks toward a North American indigenized pastoral theology

Rigo 23, Autonomous InterGalactic Space Program, 2009-present (ongoing), exhibited as part of Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas, (April 7 - August 18, 2019). Photo courtesy Queens Museum, credit Hai Zhang.

 
 

In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Neomi De Anda talks to 2023 HTI Book Prize winner Dr. Marlene M. Ferreras about her book Insurrectionist Wisdoms: Toward a North American Indigenized Pastoral Theology (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).

Through practical theological and anthro/gynopological methods, Insurrectionist Wisdoms offers an analysis of the situation of working-class Maya mexicanas living in Yucatán, México who work on the assembly line of a multinational corporation. Relying on in-depth, firsthand interviews, Dr. Ferreras brings to light the exploitation of women of color by large, multimillion-dollar corporations and delves into the ways these women can, and do, fight back. Drawing on a decolonial approach to pastoral theology and feminism, Dr. Ferreras proposes Lxs Hijxs de Maíz as an image for pastoral care and counseling.

 

OP Writes

Toward a North American Indigenized Pastoral Theology

Dr. Marlene Mayra Ferreras presents an adaptation of her 2023 HTI Book Prize lecture

"Ensconced in our Western traditions, many of us, Ferreras contends, have much to learn about the resiliency, courage, vulnerability, and practical wisdom of Indigenous women living under the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism. In this important book, Ferreras’s empathic sensitivity and wide scholarship brings to life the lives of Indigenous women, as well as fresh insights for pastoral, practical, and political theologians."

Ryan LaMothe,
Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology

Featured
Neomi De Anda

Dr. Neomi De Anda is Executive Director of International Marian Research Institute (IMRI) at the University of Dayton, where she served as a Human Rights Center Research Associate and is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies. She teaches courses in religion, languages and cultures, Latinx studies, race and ethnic studies, and women and gender studies.  Dr. De Anda holds a PhD in Constructive Theology from Loyola University Chicago, and Master’s degrees in Theology (Oblate School of Theology) and Educational Leadership (St. Mary’s University, San Antonio).  Her research interests include LatinoXa Christology; theology and breast milk; chisme; Marianist Catholic Higher Education; the intersection of race and migrations, in conjunction with the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative Immigrant Justice Team; and partnering with the Hope Border Institute on a border theology at the intersections of the environment, migrations, labor, and women. Dr. De Anda is the most recent past president for the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS). Her honors include: the 2021 University of Dayton University Award for Faculty Teaching; the 2021 University of Dayton College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Service Award for faculty; recognition as a Courageous Woman's Voice at the University of Dayton (2020) and an outstanding faculty member in the State of Ohio by Ohio Magazine (2019). Dr. De Anda has also received various grants from the Hispanic Theological Initiative, the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Religion and Theology, the Association of Marianist Universities, and the Louisville Institute, where she now serves as a member of the board. 

Featured
Marlene M. Ferreras

Dr. Marlene Mayra Ferreras is assistant professor of practical theology at the HMS Richards Divinity School at La Sierra University (2017), where she also received BA degrees in Religious Studies and Spanish (2003). Dr. Ferreras’ academic interests intersect social science and theology. She studies the strategies women use to resist systems of violence and oppression for the purpose of providing spiritual care that assists women in identifying and developing preferred futures. Her research on decolonial approaches in care and counseling with working-class Latinx women focuses on the identity and eschatology of Indigenous female maquila workers in Yucatan, Mexico. Dr. Ferreras’ recent book Insurrectionist Wisdoms: Toward a North American Indigenized Pastoral Theology (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022) won the 2023 national HTI Book Prize. Awards granted also include the Wills and Dorothy Fisher Award (Claremont School of Theology, 2018), the Forum for Theological Exploration Doctoral Fellowships (2015, 2017) and a HTI Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (Princeton, 2017). She holds a PhD in practical theology: spiritually integrative psychotherapy from Claremont School of Theology (2019). Her two MA degrees in theology are from Claremont School of Theology (2019) and Fuller Theological Seminary (2012), with an emphasis in biblical studies. She also received an MS in Marital and Family Therapy from Loma Linda University (2011). The daughter of a Cuban refugee single-mother, Dr. Ferreras was born and raised in southern California. She is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister with fourteen years experience in pastoral ministry, serving communities around Loma Linda, California, as well as a registered associate marriage and family therapist with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

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