27 September 2021 (online) 2pm-8pm
Programme and Invitation to Register
Othering occurs when some individuals or groups are labelled as not meeting the norms of a social group. We engage in othering people and we ourselves can be othered.
Othering is a practice with respect to multiple, and sometimes intersecting, areas of life. It can happen around, for example, national, political and community identities, ethnicity, gender, abilities, health or sexuality. People can be othered within practices of mission, advocacy, community development or other dimensions of a faith community’s action.
With its careful reflection upon human experience and practice, practical or pastoral theology is well placed to disclose, critique, and recommend responses.
This one-day, online conference is an opportunity for practitioners and academics to discuss a wide range of perspectives on othering and being othered.
Othering occurs when some individuals or groups are labelled as not meeting the norms of a social group. We engage in othering people and we ourselves can be othered.
Othering is a practice with respect to multiple, and sometimes intersecting, areas of life. It can happen around, for example, national, political and community identities, ethnicity, gender, abilities, health or sexuality. People can be othered within practices of mission, advocacy, community development or other dimensions of a faith community’s action.
With its careful reflection upon human experience and practice, practical or pastoral theology is well placed to disclose, critique, and recommend responses.
This one-day, online conference is an opportunity for practitioners and academics to discuss a wide range of perspectives on othering and being othered.
To attend the conference please register by 10 September 2021 by emailing either Eric Stoddart ([email protected]) or Oonagh O’Brien ([email protected]), giving your name and context of practice/affiliation. Connection details to the online platform will be issued a few days ahead of the conference to those who have registered.
Programme
Monday 27 September 2021
| 14:00 | Welcome | |
| 14:05 – 14:35 | A.L. van Ommen, Lecturer in Practical Theology, Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Autism and Christian Community, University of Aberdeen. | Autism, Othering, and the Cult of Normalcy |
| 14:35 – 15:05 | Shruti Dixit, Gurugram, India – an incoming PhD student to School of Divinity, University of St Andrews. | Pandemic-Induced Othering in India: An Escalation of Pre-Existing Discriminations |
| 15:05-15:30 | BREAK | |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Eric Stoddart, Lecturer in Practical Theology, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Joint coordinator of the Surveillance & Religion Research Network. | Vaccine Passports: Digital Othering? |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Drew T. Everhart, PhD Candidate, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews, Scotland. | Corporate Responsibility and Communal Reconciliation: Group Agency and the Church’s Response to Racial Othering |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | BREAK | |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Graham Meiklejohn, Lecturer in Theology and Communications Coordinator, Scottish Baptist College. | Othering and the Other: Maintaining Distinctiveness |
| 17:30 – 18:00 | Dympna Mallon, PhD student, St Patrick’s College Maynooth. | Women as ‘other’ within the Catholic Church |
| 18:00 – 19:00 | BREAK | |
| 19:00 – 19:30 | David Conway, N. Ireland, Honorary Research Fellow at School of Divinity, University of St Andrews. | Othering in Youth Justice |
| 19:30 | 15 mins round-up | |
Papers will be available for advance distribution to all conference participants (from 12 September 2021). Speakers will make a short presentation of 10 minutes and this will be followed by 20 minutes of discussion.
This conference is organised by practical theologians in Scotland and the island of Ireland: Esther Elliott (Scotland), Daniel Nuzum (Ireland), Oonagh O’Brien (Ireland), and Eric Stoddart (Scotland).
The conference is supported by BIAPT (the British & Irish Association for Practical Theology).