Social and Racial Justice

Book propped up on display

Reckoning with the Role of Religion in the Legacies of Slavery

November 17, 2023

Throughout the 2022–23 academic year, the Religion and Public Life (RPL) program and the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) engaged with HDS faculty to reckon with the roles of religion in slavery and its painful legacy. This work examined intersections with Harvard’s report on the legacy of slavery—culminating in a series of public conversations held throughout the spring semester.... Read more about Reckoning with the Role of Religion in the Legacies of Slavery

Ans Irfan speaking at an HDS event

Ask an Alum: How an HDS Education Intersects with Public Health and Social Justice

November 17, 2023

As a trained physician, professor, and a social justice scholar, Ans Irfan (he/him, they/them) holds a commitment to health equity and religious literacy that is both personal and professional: “If my dignity—and the safety of the LGBTQIA+ community—is up for reelection every two to four years, depending on someone’s religious views, how is public health not talking more about the role religion plays in policymaking?” In this Q&A, Irfan defines the importance of centering those who have been marginalized and the urgent need for more religious literacy in policymaking.... Read more about Ask an Alum: How an HDS Education Intersects with Public Health and Social Justice

Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel II Speaker

Video: Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel II

October 21, 2023

Convened by Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Assistant Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS, this colloquium bridged connections between the critical study of Black religion and studies of race, gender, and sexuality in critical theory and philosophy, among many other fields. The aim of this gathering was to support research and sustained dialogue about the ways in which religion and race are co-constitutive and function as governing categories of analysis at the helm of both religious studies and Black studies, respectively. This panel discussion featured Joy James (Williams College), Keri Day (Princeton Theological Seminary), and Paul Anthony Daniels (Fordham University).

... Read more about Video: Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel II

Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel I Presenter

Video: Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel I

October 21, 2023

Convened by Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Assistant Professor of African American Religious Studies at HDS, this colloquium bridged connections between the critical study of Black religion and studies of race, gender, and sexuality in critical theory and philosophy, among many other fields. The aim of this gathering was to support research and sustained dialogue about the ways in which religion and race are co-constitutive and function as governing categories of analysis at the helm of both religious studies and Black studies, respectively. This panel discussion featured J. Kameron Carter (Indiana University—Bloomington), Cecilio M. Cooper (Folger Shakespeare Library), and Joseph Winters (Duke University).

... Read more about Video: Black Religion and Critical Theory Colloquium: Panel I

Morgan Curtis, MTS '23, speaking at Harvard Divinity School

Video: Decolonial Dames of America: Book Launch & Reading

October 6, 2023

The Constellation Project is pleased to announce the publication of our second “Prayer Book,” by HDS student Morgan Curtis. “The Decolonial Dames of America,” is a landmark essay about the importance of ancestral repair work needed to be taken by the white descendants of oppressors to cultivate the soil of healing. This event featured a reading by Morgan Curtis in conversation with Melissa Bartholomew, associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

... Read more about Video: Decolonial Dames of America: Book Launch & Reading

Harvard Magazine logo

The Uses of Discomfort

September 21, 2023
That has been a large part of HDS Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Melissa Bartholomew’s work: facilitating constructive discomfort. Last year the Divinity School hosted a series of discussions focused on Harvard’s report and on the visible reminders of slavery embedded in the buildings and traditions of the Divinity School itself. Students, faculty, staff, and administrators took part, and the conversations, Bartholomew said, were honest and hard.

Pages