Gathering Questions and Preliminary Ideas:
I have been spending some time thinking about what migration is, how I might define migration, and if migration is something that is either external or internal or perhaps both? I have also been spending time considering the nature of conversion. If migration is either voluntarily or forced and if there is always a point where a person makes a decision, then perhaps there are always points and moments in our life when we “convert.” If this is the case, then at what point does a person convert? And, does conversion aid in migration or contribute to migration? Further, what is the relationship between migration and conversion?
This essay is an attempt to explore the nature of the shared relationship between migration and conversion. Perhaps migration in this sense becomes both a physical and emotional movement [or move of the Self]. The Self evolves, is changed, and migrates, perhaps? The Self converts?
Perhaps this is a premature statement to suggest conversion, but considering that there is always motion around us due to the mass media into which we are baptized, and as a result we are always making decisions with regard to our well-being [both physical and emotional], I wonder where migration and conversion collide, intersect, become friends and enemies?
My tools? I am trained as a theologian, and therefore look at migration from more of a theological anthropoligical perspecdtive utilizing the tools of sociology, feminist theories, nomadic theories, and the stories from real life. In addition, I am curious if recent feminist standpoint theory and nomadic theories can illuminate the shared relationship between migration and conversion.
I am conducting some conversations with folks who identify ways in which they have migrated. Might conversion emerge as part and parcel of their migration? I’m looking forward to learning!
Recent Talkers|habladores recientes