Asian Americans are making headline news as the nation once again grapples with affirmative action. There are two precipitating incidents this time around:
Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Let’s Talk About White Supremacy by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Sometimes I come across a resource that’s so fantastic that all I want to do is promote it. This incredible graphic from the blog site Radical Discipleship recently made the rounds on my Facebook news feed.
A Time of Reckoning: The SCE and John Howard Yoder By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
How does a professional society—a Christian one, no less—come to terms with the sexual abuse perpetrated over decades by one of its most vaunted members? At the recently concluded annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, this question was at… Read More ›
Tipping Points in Academe By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I’ve been thinking a lot about tipping points of late. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s debut book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000), a tipping point is “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the… Read More ›
Social Transformation in the Urban Context (a.k.a. PANAAWTM 2016) By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
In a few days I’ll be heading to Chicago to attend another conference—PANAAWTM to be exact. PANAAAWTM stands for “Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry.” As I’ve explained in a previous blog, PANAAWTM’s deepest roots… Read More ›
Four Tips for New Students in Seminary By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Yesterday, the institution at which I work hosted an Orientation for some 50 new students who will begin their graduate theological education imminently. I was asked to provide an informal talk to a smaller group of them about student success…. Read More ›
A Prayer for our Troubled Times By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
A few days ago, I received a private message from an old friend who’s now living and working in Taiwan. We hadn’t corresponded in years, but he had heard about the recent shootings in San Bernardino and wanted to check-in… Read More ›
Finding My Voice By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
In my work with doctoral students, I’ve noticed that what often sets apart “good” graduate students from “good” junior scholars is the ability for the latter to say something important and distinctive. That is, while it may be sufficient during coursework… Read More ›
Does the Term “Women of Color” Bother You? By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I recently came back from a weeklong camping retreat for Christian faculty and their families in beautiful Catalina (an island an hour’s boat ride away from the Southern Californian mainland). This year’s conference theme was “Power Revealed: Gifts, Dangers, and Possibilities.”… Read More ›
Dreaming of Sabbatical by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
In the midst of doing last-minute shopping, decorating, and entertaining for the holidays, I find myself on the eves of Christmas and New Year furiously trying to meet several important work deadlines. While burning the candle at both ends writing and grading, I also find… Read More ›
Ecofeminism is in the House (at the AAR) by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
My social media accounts have recently been ablaze with announcements of meetings, sessions, and receptions to attend for those of us who study or work in religion/theology in the U.S. Some 12,000-15,000 scholars and students will descend upon San Diego this… Read More ›
My Take On “Feminist Theology: Four Perspectives” by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I recently had the honor of serving on a panel entitled “Feminist Theology: Four Perspectives” with three of my faculty colleagues: Rosemary Radford Ruether, Monica A. Coleman, and Najeeba Syeed. It had been organized by the Claremont School of Theology Alumni/ae Association in… Read More ›
What Feminists of Color Taught Me In the Wake of the Michael Brown Shooting by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Like many others, I’ve been following the aftermath of the recent shooting death of an 18-year old black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri with a mixture of shock and horror. Mainstream news coverage and my Facebook newsfeed… Read More ›
A Prayer for our Broken World by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
The news of late has been terrible. I read about the following headlines yesterday (July 17, 2014): 1. A Malaysian Airlines passenger plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers aboard. Both the Ukrainian… Read More ›
No Parenting Anxieties (Yet?) About Passing Down the Faith by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I’ve recently read Jim Belcher’s In Search of Deep Faith: A Pilgrimage into the Beauty, Goodness, and Heart of Christianity (2013). Even though I had several issues with the book, I couldn’t put it down once I started reading and… Read More ›
A Tale of Two Conferences (Or Reflections of a Parent Who Occasionally Travels for Work) by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
In the space of twelve days I will have taken two inter-continental and two transcontinental flights to attend two conferences. I will have slept in my own bed in sunny Los Angeles for only four of those nights and been… Read More ›
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Creating Syllabi by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
The start of the Spring 2014 semester is right around the corner, which means that many academics like me are madly trying to put the finishing touches on their syllabi. The process of doing so has always been equal parts… Read More ›
A Feminist Eulogy? By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
My grandmother, my last living grandparent, recently died. She was 84 years old. Because I’ve just come back from Taiwan where I participated in all of her funerary rites and delivered a eulogy therein, I’ve been thinking a lot about… Read More ›
No More Of This in Academe! by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
Last week, social media was ablaze over a September 18 Pittsburg Post-Gazette column entitled “Death of An Adjunct” by Daniel Kovalik that had the following teaser: “Margaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct professor of French for 25 years, died underpaid and underappreciated… Read More ›
Some Friendly Advice for Female Graduate Students by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I’m officially in “back to school” mode, as I put the finishing touches on my syllabi, get my course websites ready, and prepare my 5-year old son for Kindergarten. As I think about new graduate students studying theology or ministry,… Read More ›
Everywhere I am surrounded by tales of violence by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
As I write this blog, I am nearing the end of my week-long family vacation in Palm Desert. While we’ve had lots of fun splashing around in the pool, everywhere I turn I am bombarded by scenes and memories of… Read More ›
It Was a Rainbow Graduation by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
I have the privilege of serving as Co-director of the Center for Sexuality, Gender, and Religion at Claremont School of Theology. I am ecstatic that we just hosted our version of a “rainbow graduation” at this year’s Commencement.
Speaking Up for Animals by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
“I hope that readers will rethink their consumer choices, monies that have long been offered at the expense of nonhuman animals–overwhelmingly female and exploited because of their female biology. We choose where our money goes, and in the process, we… Read More ›
Ringing In the Lunar New Year with LGBT Activism By Grace Yia-Hei Kao
On Sunday, February 10, the Tet parade in Little Saigon, Westminster (CA) went on as planned. Several thousand people turned up to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year, or what Khanh Ho, Assistant Professor of English at Grinnell College, has likened… Read More ›
The Future of Christian Ethics by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
The annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics is just around the corner (Jan 3-6, 2013). One of my responsibilities will be to meet again with members of the 2020 Future of Christian Ethics task force. Our “charge” according… Read More ›
Status and Power at the AAR by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
This weekend is the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). I’ll be giving a presentation in a panel that I organized in one session and serving as the invited respondent in another. I’ll also be spending approximately… Read More ›
Government “Apologies” for Historical Injustices: Why They Matter
“I rejoice in this most recent admission of institutional racism. I am not naïve enough to believe that this public acknowledgment, like previous ones to other racial-ethnic groups, was untainted by political calculations. But I am also not Kantian (so… Read More ›
A Prayer From the Privileged by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
“As we approach Memorial Day Weekend (and the militaristic patriotism it promotes), as the 2012 election cycle heats up, and as I meditate more deeply upon my and my country’s many riches, one of [Walter] Brueggemann’s prayers in particular spoke… Read More ›
Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by Grace Yia-Hei Kao
“Did you know that…the Asian population grew faster than any other race group in the United States between 2000 and 2010…[and that] Chinese is the second most widely spoken non-English language in the country (behind Spanish)”?
