Department of Religious Studies
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/2152/82553
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Browsing Department of Religious Studies by Author "Department of Religious Studies"
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Item Ahmad Kaki Interview(2022-12-21) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Ahmad Kaki, a legal assistant and law student in Arlington, VA. Ahmad describes growing up Palestinian and Muslim in Texas and how his life changed after 9/11. He talks about his college experiences of involvement in the Muslim Students Association and pro-Palestine organizing. Ahmad shares the trajectory of his career, which brought him to law school and his current work as a legal assistant with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.Item Aisha Fall Interview(2022-10-10) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Aisha Fall, a Senegalese-American Muslim in Chicago, IL. Aisha shares memories from her childhood, including friendships, schooling, and travels to Senegal and France. She describes her time at UTSA and her involvement with the MSA there. While there, she attended the Muslim Children Education and Civic Center where she became a leader on the Youth Committee. She talks about her experience there and the influential people she worked with.Item Alexia Leclerqc Interview(2022-04-06) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Alexia Leclerqc, an environmental justice activist working with PODER in Austin, TX. Alexia discusses moving around a lot in childhood and struggling with others’ lack of respect for her family’s Taiwanese and Buddhist traditions. They talk about coming into environmental justice work via their education and witnessing injustice and contradiction in the world. She shares about the work she does, such as water testing and meeting with politicians and scientists. Alexia also describes Start:Empowerment, the nonprofit organization they co-founded to get environmental justice curriculum into high schools.Item Amanda Martinez Beck Interview(2021-12-02) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Amanda Martinez Beck, a fat liberation activist living in Marshall, TX. Amanda talks about the work that online activism involves, such as social media engagement, podcasting, and writing for various platforms. She discusses the problems of language in her activism, like the negative connotations many people have with concepts like fatness and disability. Amanda also explains how her conversion to Catholicism and exposure to incarnational theology helped her learn to celebrate her body and the bodies of others.Item Amanda Quraishi Interview(2018-09-20) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Amanda Quraishi, a Muslim convert and activist in Austin, Texas. Quraishi discusses her journey of converting to Islam and her story of becoming an activist within the community and beyond. She shares her perspective on the strength and challenges facing the Muslim community, including the power of masses and the importance of accepting pluralism.Item Amanda Veasy Interview(2022-02-18) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Amanda Veasy, co-founder of One Love Longview, a nonprofit resource center for unsheltered, uninsured, and underserved populations. Amanda talks about the rapid rise of her organization as a response to community needs for accessible mental and physical health care. She describes the changes in her religious experiences over time, including being spurred to leave the church over her unwillingness to condemn the LGBTQ+ community. Amanda also talks about her methods of helping effectively by putting the individual’s desires and consent first and about the strength of her value of southern hospitality.Item Amro Eltayeb Interview(2022-10-01) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Amro Eltayeb, an engineer in San Antonio, Texas. Amro talks about childhood memories like his father’s business and the ways his family supported his education. He tells the story of his education in mechanical and software engineering and his early work experiences developing off-road wheelchairs. He also describes his current project of designing a note-taking app. Amro also shares about the moral decisions he has had to make in his career and how Islam has influenced his sense of ethics.Item Avery Wright Interview(2022-06-10) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Avery Wright, a theater educator living in San Marcos, TX. Avery talks about growing up in College Station and living cautiously as a young transgender man. He compares these experiences to his time at Texas State, where he became involved in the student organization Bobcat PRIDE. Avery describes his leadership role in Bobcat PRIDE and the educational and entertainment events that he and the organization hosted.Item Barbra O. Interview(2022-08-02) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Barbra O., a master’s student in Milan, Italy who was born in Nigeria and grew up in Texas. She details navigating life as an immigrant child and the experiences that shaped her perception of community and self. She describes cultural connections, such as memories of food and family. Barbra compares her experiences in Texas with her life now in Italy.Item Carrie Holley-Hurt Interview(2021-08-05) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Carrie Holley-Hurt, a seminarian studying at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Carrie tells the story of her history of activism and involvement, including her current work tracking and speaking out against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Texas. She talks about how parenting a queer child has informed her fight for equal rights and gender affirming care for trans people. Heather also shares her experiences of both admiration for her child and fears for their safety.Item Chanda Parbhoo Interview(2022-10-17) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Chanda Parbhoo, an Indian-American organizer and immigrant from South Africa who lives in Dallas, TX. Chanda compares her early experiences of ethnic integration in Canada with her experiences of apartheid in South Africa. She also shares the challenges and prejudice her family experienced in Canada and the States. She describes the influence of her father’s business ventures and values on her childhood and career. Chanda talks about her activism for representation in her school district and for AAPI voting empowerment.Item Chas Moore Interview(2022-03-31) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Chas Moore, founder of the Austin Justice Coalition and anti-racist activist in Austin, TX. Chas shares his story of exposure to deaths and incarceration at a young age and how those traumas shaped his beliefs and drive as an organizer. He talks about being directly exposed to overt racism for the first time in Austin and getting heavily involved in the city’s anti-racism organizing movement. Chas shares how the work of influential Black thinkers and activists as well as his faith have guided his activism. He also discusses challenges like funding, his goals for long-term change, and his hopes for a happier and more peaceful human experience. Content Warning: The following interview contains sensitive material. Please note that the interview includes discussion of anti-Black racial slurs. These subjects will be discussed at 6:15-7:20 (in the transcript p. 2).Item Daniele Volfe Interview(2022-09-22) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Daniele Volfe, a Brazilian immigrant and immigration attorney in McKinney, Texas. Daniele describes coming to the US with her husband, a pastor, and her family’s process of getting settled in Texas. She talks about her education and her decision to become an immigration attorney. She shares her relationship with her Brazilian culture and compares it with her daughters’ experiences of their heritage.Item Daryl Horton Interview(2020-12-15) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Daryl Horton, a minister at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Daryl discusses helping students sustain their faith and community through the pandemic and transitioning his congregation to church in this time. He talks about his experience working with Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT) and his involvement in the interfaith space in Austin. Daryl also shares his story as a native Austinite and his perspective as a Black pastor on the growing inequality in the city.Item Elizabeth Melton Interview(2023-04-13) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Elizabeth Melton, the public engagement director at IDCL, from Crumpler, NC. Elizabeth describes her childhood in Longview, TX, where she was surrounded by her extended family with deep ties to public education and the Presbyterian Church (USA). She shares how her childhood involvement in theater eventually led to her PhD in performance studies. Elizabeth talks about her experience of the Texas Freeze of 2021. She also discusses her complicated relationship to Texas as both a beloved home and site of political strife.Item Emily Nash Interview(2021-08-20) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Emily Nash, a case manager and aspiring social worker in Austin. Emily reflects on her upbringing, including growing up lower class and the influences that caused her to pursue social work as a career. She discusses her current job as a case manager for elderly and disabled clients in Austin. Emily talks about how the Texas Freeze impacted the health and safety of her clients, as well as its impact on her own mental health and the state at large.Item Emmad Mazhari Interview(2022-06-16) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Emmad Mazhari, a software designer and photographer living in Houston, TX. Emmad talks about his childhood in Pakistan and his move and adjustment to the United States. He talks about his relationships to the places he has lived as well as his relationship to his Pakistani Muslim culture. Emmad describes the artistic projects he is planning and working on and shares some of his artistic inspirations.Item Gregory Han Interview(2022-03-14) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Gregory Han, an educator and Presbyterian minister active in interreligious dialogue in Houston. Gregory shares his story of growing up biracial in a very White area and the experience of simultaneously fitting in anywhere and nowhere. He talks about his path in education toward discovering his passions for both academics and ministry. Gregory discusses his work with Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, such as leading visits to houses of worship and organizing dialogue between leaders and communities of different faiths. He also talks about the unique challenges of interfaith work in Texas as well as doing this work in the aftermath of 9/11.Item Hadi Jawad Interview(2023-04-05) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Hadi Jawad, an activist in Dallas, TX. Hadi shares memories of growing up in Pakistan and coming to the US for college. He talks about his business and how he began activism work against US military involvement in Iraq. Hadi describes the impacts of post-9/11 Islamophobia on his community and his own interactions with the FBI.Item Heather Malkawi Interview(2021-08-04) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious StudiesThis interview is with Heather Malkawi, a seminarian studying at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Heather shares the story of her experiences living with and treating her epilepsy, including discerning the choice to pursue seminary and fighting for the legalization of medical marijuana. She talks about how the Texas Freeze kept her from receiving shipments of her medication, putting her at risk of seizures. She also speaks about her experiences volunteering to distribute water and home necessities with her church during the freeze.