Discussing Religion and Culture

One of the discussion questions we had in regards to Dangerous Living, the documentary we watched in November, was how do we begin to understand a religious belief that we do not share? There are many things that people believe with religious conviction that we must consider as instructors in creating curriculum and addressing topics such as evolution. Our students may have to deal with these issues in their own lives or in the school systems where they will teach. There are also issues not related to religion, but rather cultural or regional differences. For example, in the state of Georgia it is legal to strike a child and this can come up in education leading to debates on whether this is acceptable or not or how to address it in curriculum.

One way to address this issue with our students is to start familiarizing them with different religious ideas or practices through our courses. We can encourage dialogue by looking at religion or culture through readings and videos. That discussion will help us unpack some of our own beliefs and opinions about others’ beliefs and consider our lens, the media’s lens, and lenses of others. There are still students who believe that all Muslims are from the Middle East and that that represents a fairly homogenous culture. We need to help them see beyond that and realize that religion is not one ethnic group or region, but rather a universal phenomenon with believers of all religions all over the world.

Dangerous Living really brings gay rights issues and religious issues together. Those are both important issues for us to address with our students. You have to deal with both issues because they are closely linked. There are many mainstream films, in addition to documentaries, that offer interesting views of GLBT issues such as Philadelphia, Angels in America, Fresa y Chocolate, Milk, etc. Even gay characters in television over the past decade offer an interesting starting point for discussion of stereotypes and visibility.

These discussions on religion, culture, beliefs, sexuality, and human rights are very important to have with future educators so that they are prepared to think and act critically in their classrooms.

Dangerous Living, continued

Our discussion on GLBT issues abroad through the Dangerous Living documentary also brought up to questions of religion, politics, and considering other cultures not in this film.

It may be a Western idea to associate gay and lesbian people with secular views. There are many religious gay individuals and it is a huge conflict, in the U.S. and elsewhere, to manage the gay and religious identities and decide on the safety of coming out. There is a fear of losing that community.

Now, with recent legislation gay marriage has become a very sensitive issue for the GLBT community in the U.S. There is a big question of where gay people are going to be in the new administration. The gay marriage issue is really just the tip of the iceberg when you look at the decisions being made across the country. The reasons certain legislation is passing in each state is very complicated, though people are trying to attribute responsibility to certain groups. There seems to be a general fear of legitimizing homosexuality through gay marriage legalization and the increased visibility of the gay community that will come with that.

When we look at the documentary Dangerous Living, the political context is particularly salient. In many of these countries homosexuality was accepted traditionally or even recently. It seems to be who is in charge and what is going on in politics that determines the stance taken toward gay people. It is very much a current social and political practice more than a legacy from religion or something else. Even within the U.S. you see places where there is a lot of support and organizations in schools and the community, but other places where it just isn’t visible or accepted.

As the documentary is five years old we were left with a question of what the journey has been in these countries since then. And what about countries and societies not covered in this film? There was a discussion that in Korea there is less conflict in this issue: there are many famous transgender or gay actors and actresses and TV personalities, and you see open clubs supporting the GLBT communities in the universities. There seems to be less of a stigma around it and you see homosexuality more prominently in the media. It seems worthwhile to take a closer look at other countries to see where and how it is accepted and incorporated in the culture, and in what ways there are still less obvious challenges.

Discussion of Dangerous Living

Three main themes came out of our November 13th discussion of the documentary Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World (see previous post): Colonialism, Gender, and Community & Home.

Colonialism
From the discussions in this film, anti-gay sentiments in many countries can be seen as pushing back against colonialism. It’s the legacy of colonialism: the Western worldview has been so ingrained because of it. Homosexuality was never at the forefront in these countries and now it is. It’s very easy to blame them or attribute it to their culture or religion, but instead we should consider our own historical legacy as part of the problem. The Western world should consider the legacy they have left behind. The treatment of gay people in colonized countries is not that much different than the treatment of gay people in the colonizing countries: only 70 years ago people went to prison for being gay in the UK. The documentary even mentioned “undeveloped” countries which is really a colonial term.

Gender
Gender is very complex in cultures. In the Western world inferiority of women has traditionally been a strong view, that did not exist in the African world prior to colonialism. Contemporary western perspectives of gender are different from what they were. The experience of being gay in different cultural environments is sometimes connected to gender.

There also seems to be a connection between the treatment of women and the treatment of gay people. The more oppressed women are, the more oppressed gay people are. There is a worldview that encourage the oppression of others as if people of other cultures are lesser than we are.

Community and Home
In the U.S., religious gay people may not want to come out for fear of losing their community. Community is very important and coming out may be life or death, like in some of these cultures, or it may be a matter of just not being accepted by your community. There is a need for home to create a sense of feeling, belonging, community, and safety. That home doesn’t have to be a location – the internet has allowed so much networking and community building that there’s an emergent sense of home there. The global action after the Cairo 52 is probably much due to that.

There is a choice in immigration that has a lot to do with your community. You can stay in the country and do activism to get visibility or you can leave and seek asylum elsewhere and try to do work from the outside. Furthermore, if they’re seeking asylum they are refugees and not immigrants. Is this even the right world to come to?

There is a feeling with activism that it’s not just for yourself, but all human beings. It’s not just civil rights, but human rights. If someone attacks you and your community, they’re really attacking humanity. That’s the inspiring message from this documentary.

Dangerous Living

In the November 13, 2008 CP & the Arts meeting we watched Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World from documentary filmmaker John Scagliotti and After Stonewall Productions. Watch the trailer:

Some questions to consider as we try to look beyond our borders and inform ourselves about non-western cultures:

1. How do we begin to understand a religious belief that we do not share?
2. What should the U.S. role in human rights be on this issue? Are there national or international legal issues that apply?
3. What does this film tell us about the immigrant experience in general?
4. Can we generalize about our students who might come from these cultures? How do we keep ourselves open to their individual experiences?