Democratisation

Regulars to the CSRP (Centre for the Study of Religion & Politics) weekly seminar who weren’t around the campus today missed a vibrant presentation by Dr Andrea Teti (an alumnus of St Andrews and now lecturing in International Relations at the University of Aberdeen). He introduced us to one of his current works in progress: “Orientalist roots of ‘Transitology’: organising knowledge and producing moral geographies of democratisation in the Middle East”.

I won’t attempt to rehearse his argument because I wouldn’t do it justice. What I can say is that once again it’s come home to just how important inter-disciplinary conversation is if some of us are going to attempt practical theology. It doesn’t just broaden our horizons but it disciplines us to engage with the questions that colleagues are asking rather than letting theology try to set the agenda. That needn’t mean that we stick with the questions framed by our colleagues and it was envigorating today to find some common cause with Andrea in questioning the questions that cultural theorists are posing.

After hearing Andrea unpack many dimensions of the ways that the Western mindset attempts to handle (and somehow impose) its expectations of those its seeking to ‘democratise’ I’m left wondering about any parallels within my own field of practical theology.  In other words, what are the politics of ‘practical theology’ (the discipline)? I’m not thinking about the party allegiances, if any, of particular exponents but rather of the political nature inherent within current models of practical theology.  It’s not going to be as simple as zooming in on liberationist models. I sense another article coming on but I’m sure someone will have begun to write about this. I’m looking forward to digging around as I’ve no idea at the moment.