GTU Voices - Bridging Identities en Conjunto

Bridging Identities en Conjunto

By GTU Communications

Pamela Stevens - My research at the GTU studies the documentary record of a textile garment of shame from the Mexican Inquisition in the sixteenth century. Through a material culture study, I explore blended Anglo-Iberian, Anglican-Catholic identities amid reforming Anglican and Catholic movements. My work supports the mission of the GTU in working toward a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world by offering a greater understanding of intersectional identities and belief systems in the development of communities. 

The history of a textile garment employed in institutional shaming inspires my practical ministry orientation, which embodies woven threads of religious, racial, and cultural identity in ways that carry affective data and story to form community. My research explores how people weave together intersectional identities amid affective experiences of loss, even within the systems that marginalize them. 

Serving as a bilingual and bicultural bridging presence within a Spanish-speaking faith community echoes and inspires my scholarship. 

In my research and my ministry activities, I confront some of the critical issues of the age: belonging, illness, power and authority, geographic inequity, colonialism, and the healing power of faith-based community. Helping to offer access to online worship and social contact within a congregation in transition embodies the interconnected nature of the garment I study.

Listen to Pam Steven's extended interview here.

Categories: 
Student Voices

Back to GTU Voices