Gender and theology . Issues within Education for Global Citizenship .

1. Gender and theology.IssueswithinEducation for Global Citizenship. EFTRE conference. Religions and Relationships. DealingwithDiversity. Maria Jansdotter Samuelsson, Karlstad University Malmö, August 21-24 2013.

2. Swedish curriculum, ReligiousEducation.General aims. (year 10-12) • “ Teaching should also give students the opportunity to analyse and assess how religion can relate, amongst other things, to ethnicity, gender, sexuality and socio-economic background. “ • Teaching should give students the opportunity to analyse texts and concepts, critically examine sources, discuss and argue. • c) Teaching should give students the opportunity to develop the ability to analyse religions and outlooks on life based on different interpretations and perspectives.

3. Prescribedcontent, Religion 1 (basiccourse) • Teaching in the course should cover the following core content: • Christianity, the other world religions and different outlooks on life, their characteristics and how they are expressed by individuals and groups in the present, in Sweden and the world. • Different views of human beings and God within and between religions. • Religion in relation to gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity and sexuality

4. Global citizenship– education. • ”Global citizenship-education”, ”educatingcitizens for global awareness”…. • Importance of global well-being • Economicequality, environmental sustainability, human rights, culturaldiversity…. • ”Controversialissues”

5. Religious literacy and global citizenship • Religion needsto be taken into the field of global citizenship-education (Robert Nash) • Global citizensneedto be religiousliterateto understand the impact of religion in global and multiculturalsociety. • Religion as a plastic and livingphenomenon..

6. Religiousblindness – a certainchallenge for education in secularEurope…. Religion unvisible in public society… Religion = private, exotic, moralist, static, nonnegotiable… Unabilityto understand the importance of interpretation… Patriarchal/androcentric interpretations might be contradictoryto gender-equality and women’s civil rights, not religion per se….. Unabilityto understand the gender-emancipatory potential of religion, historically as well as now….

7. Religiousblindness…. • Risk of reinforcingeither negative or naive, uncriticalattitudesto religion and religiousgroups…

8. Teachingreligious literacy… • Teachers must be aware of alternative, gender-aware interpretations of God and human beings(not only Christian…) • Patriarchal norms of sexuality is challenged • Alsopostcolonial and ecological (ecofeminist) interpretations…

9. Bring feminist interpretations into the discussion… • “…female dehumanization occurs and is often rewarded through the male near monopoly of determining the meaning of the divine,…., and for determining applications, uses and abuses of Islam…” • AminaWadud (Muslim feminist theologian, US) • “Ijtihad is the Islamic tradition of criticalthinking and independent reasoning. Nowwehaveto re-discover it preciselytoupdate Islam for the 21st century. The opportunitytoupdate is especiallyavailableto Muslims in the West, becauseit'sherethatweenjoypreciousfreedomstothink, express, challenge and be challengedwithoutfear of state reprisal. In that sense, the Islamic reformation has tobegin in the West. I propose a non-militarycampaigntopromoteindividualapproachesto Islam, to re-discover ourtraditionalcriticalthinking.” • IrshadManji (Muslim feminist, Canada)

10. Bringing feminist interpretations… • “ Feminist theologies arise from the lives of all women and are aimed at expanding those lives through justice- seeking and right relation, …” Marcella Althaus-Reid & Lisa Isherwood. (Feminist theologians, Argentina/UK)

11. Classroom and ”controversialissues” Religiouseducation- shouldprepare students toengagewith ”controversialissues” relatedtoculturaldiversity… Discussing ”controversialissues” alsohelptodevelop general skillsimportant for a responsible global citizen… -critical and analyticalthinking -respecting the opinion of others -participateactively in debates -make reasoned judgepoints

12. Guidelines for a respectfuldiscussion on controversialissues in classroom… • Discourse ethics (SeylaBenhabib) • A) Universal moral respect (everyone’s right totake part of a public moral discussion, and to be respected) • B) Egalitarian reciprocity (everyoneshould be given the same right toinitiate a theme and toclaimequal options or arrangements for the discussion)

13. ”Controversialissues” in media.. Swedish examples.. • Group of male muslim students required special arrangements in classroom, toavoidlooking at female students. (Östersund, Sweden, 2010) • A dance-performancewaspostponedbecause of the inclusion of Quran-citations parallell tofemaledancersperforming a street-danceprogramme. (Stockholm, Sweden, April 2012) • The feminist activistnetwork ”FEMEN” made a bare-breasted protest-action against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. (Stockholm Sweden, July 2013) • The ”hijab-uprising” . Femalepoliticians and otherput on hijabs for a day as a protest againsthate-crimesdoneto muslim women. (Sweden, August 2013)

14. Questionstobringinto the discussionon ”controversialissues”.. • What different opinions arethereto be find in the debate? • Whatare/could the arguments for or against/be? • Arethereany valid opinions or arguments thatshouldhavebeenincluded in the debate? Which? Why? • Whyarethey absent?

15. Discussion • Whatareyourexperience of bringingissues of religiousmultiplicity and gender-awarenessintoclassroom? • Possibilities? Obstacles? Goodpractices? • Whataboutstudent’sawareness of the plasticity of religion and the multiplicityof interpretations? Arethereany recent ”controversialissues” relatedto religion within the public debate in your country? What arguments, opinions for or againstwerethere? Solutions?