¿Los pueblos indígenas de Abia Yala - América Latina se puede comprender de otra manera en nuestros tiempos? Para ofrecer una respuesta a esta pregunta se describe un proceso de comprensión basado en una aproximación intercultural a sus otredades políticas y religiosas. Se examina primero como intelectuales no-indígenas han comprendido a los pueblos indígenas desde 1492. Por el escuchar cómo las y los indígenas se autoentienden se evidencia después lo que significa concretamente la lucha por el reconocimiento de los (...) derechos indígenas y de la naturaleza en México, Ecuador y Bolivia. Luego se tematiza las teologías indígenas como motor del reconocimiento de las religiones indígenas. Se llega a la conclusión de que hay que superar por otros encuentros el malentendido de que todos los indígenas son seres humanos comunitarios que piensan y actuan de una manera cíclica mientras todos los seres humanos europeos son individualistas que piensan y actuan de una manera lineal. __. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Noble Impermanence of WaystationsMiriam Rowntree (bio)In the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), adjacent to Gate 14, a screen announces that boarding to Equestria is on time. The description below this announcement includes transport “through a portal to a parallel dimension” and a “harmonious sparkly” atmosphere. An attractive destination. Esquestria’s capital, Canterlot, offers castles, dragons, and, of course, ponies. As the heart of the My Little Pony universe, Canterlot (...) boasts a fantastical utopia. Gate ∞, as it is called (because its erstwhile home, Gate 13, is an unlucky number), imaginatively whisks weary travelers away to other fantastical destinations. Using a commonplace ticket machine or kiosk, travelers answer a series of whimsical questions and receive a ticket to a utopian destination that the machine has personally matched to the traveler for their mythical utopia. Doesn’t everyone want to go to lands of unicorns, ponies, or other such magic?The installation titled “Interimaginary Departures” draws upon 120 destinations drawn from various media, literature, and games, including Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Wizard of Oz.1 Even the carpet is inspired by the rabbits of Watership Down. Artist Janet Zweig describes her art [End Page 570] installation as designed to “create generative situations in public settings” and Gate ∞ does invite possibility as it is situated in a portal askew to the portals of the real in the terminal. Gate ∞ boldly crosses a border wall at 7 degrees (fig. 1, p. 572), heightening the boundaries between the real and the unreal. The chairs, a trashcan, and a book are caught between worlds, a wall slicing through them. Although Zweig cites China Mieville’s The City and the City (2009) as inspiration for her art installation, for me, the juxtaposition of the “interimaginary” and the real calls to mind Olga Tokarczuk’s book Flights (2007).2 While Zweig’s kiosk personally recommends Equestria (fig. 2, p. 573), ABIA is itself merely a waystation on my own trip between Texas and Rome.Tom McAllister’s review of Flights in the Washington Post describes the book as “beautifully fragmented,” not unlike Zweig’s “Interimaginary Departures” which relies on structural fragmentation of a space to exemplify the interposition of the imaginary and the real.3 This book captivated me from the first strange narrative when I tried to read it several years ago. However, I found it difficult to finish the first time as the stories in each section (there are no chapters) moved rapidly from one place, person, idea, and time to the next. McAllister says that “the disconnectedness is part of the point; they are fragments of people’s lives, a patchwork of personal experience, secondhand observation and imagination. Each story appears, draws our attention and then fades as the narrator finds her way to a new hotel, a new airport.” Perhaps the disconnectedness is the point, but I have found that Tokarczuk also infuses the sections with a sense that “there exists in the world’s coordinate system a perfect point where time and space reach an agreement” (4). Like Zweig’s “Interimaginary Departures,” that agreement is found in movement and the waystations toward that right time and place.Destination: RomeI settle into my seat next to my two daughters. Our flight will land in Rome at 8:00 am tomorrow. I have prepared them for what this means for our bodies. Jet lag is no joke. We shuffle our things around, air pods in the seat pocket in front of us, our bags tucked into the overhead bins. I take out my book and open it to the first page as my girls turn on the tv screens nestled in the seat in front of them. “Here I am” it says in bold letters at the top of the first page of Tokarczuk’s book. The narrator announces their presence (here) with the imperative of existence (I am). I take out my pen as is my habit, but it falls to the side as I read the first [End Page 571] Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 1.A view from the Interimaginary Departures exhibit at Gate 13, or Gate Infinity, in Austin-Bergstrom International... (shrink)

Nigeria has over 57% of its population as youths. The nation is rich in human and mineral resources, yet the level of youth unemployment continues to rise and to pose serious socio-economic and political threats. The aim of this study was to highlight the strong link between the high level of youth unemployment and the rising tide of violence and criminalization of the public space in Nigeria. In other words, we argued that the youth routinely took out their frustrations in (...) violent and criminal forms. The study was set in Aba, city of Abia state, which is arguably the largest commercial town in the south-east region of Nigeria. It is also synonymous with violent and criminal social breakdowns. This empirical study adopted a multi-phase sampling technique for the data collection procedure, including the distribution of questionnaires, extensive library research and personal observation. By implication, both primary and secondary sources were used. The results show that youth unemployment was on the increase and government efforts alone were inadequate to solve the problem. In conclusion, the all-hands-on-deck approach was advocated. This entailed that the visibility of the church at almost every level of community life, especially at the grass-root level must be used as a vital platform to reach the people. Thus, it was recommended that the church should actively tap into the multifarious professional capacities of her members and use them as resource persons to creatively tackle the problem of youth unemployment.Contribution: This article contributes to the concept ‘faith seeking understanding’. It includes a systematic and practical reflection, within a paradigm in which the intersection of social sciences and theology generates a transdisciplinary contested discourse. (shrink)

A presente proposta tem como objetivo dialogar sobre o papel social da religião e sua relação com o desrespeito à alteridade no espaço escolar. Partindo do conceito de Lévinas sobre alteridade, buscar-se-á analisar a relação conflituosa existente entre alunos adeptos de religiões de matriz africana e alunos que professam outra religião, buscando assim refletir para sobre o papel do professor nesses casos. Discussões como estas se fazem necessárias, pois buscam meios para amenizar esses conflitos; para isso, fundamenta-se em pensadores que (...) abordam a importância da não banalização do outro e da valorização das religiões de matriz africana, compreendendo que as mesmas fazem parte da realidade dos alunos e que, por muito tempo, foram inviabilizadas, demonizadas e hoje ainda passam por um processo de não aceitação por parte da sociedade, neste caso no meio escolar. Parte deste artigo foi apresentado durante o I Colóquio Internacional Bullying Submerso: Religião e Etnicidade na Escola, promovido pelo Programa de pós Graduação em Ciências da Religião da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, em outubro de 2015, e é fruto de pesquisas realizadas[1] no doutorado e de vivências enquanto professora de 1° e 2° fase da rede estadual da mesma cidade, e como umbandista Omó Ifá e abiã de orisá. [1] Essa pesquisa não recebeu financiamento, porém, parte dela foi realizada durante os estudos de doutorado. (shrink)