Frederik Poulsen was awarded the Nils Klim Prize in 2020. On 12 – 13 September, 2024, he will organize the symposium “Transgressing Boundaries: Biblical and Social Scientific Studies of Migration”.
Programme
Thursday, 12th September
10:00 – 10:10
Welcome & Housekeeping | Room #6B-1-62
10:15 – 11:00
Katherine Southwood, Associate Professor in Old Testament, University of Oxford; Fellow of St. John’s College
“Return Migration and Meaning of Home and Belonging: From the Metaphoric to the Social.”
This paper will be a return for me to a focus of my earlier publications; Ezra-Nehemiah and identity within the Period. I will re-examine and strength-test theories about returnmigration, belonging, and identity in Ezra-Nehemiah, thinking again about the constructed nature of boundaries within the text. I will also discuss the way that boundaries around the topic of identity, return-migration, and belonging have changed within scholarly discussion. I am particularly interested in the convergence of metaphoric and social constructions of ‘home’ and the ‘journey’ both in primary material, and also in scholarship.
11:00 – 11:45
Frederik Poulsen, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen
“‘Bury Me With My Ancestors:’ Return Migration in the Jacob Narrative.”
My paper examines return migration in the story of Jacob in Genesis. Various movements back and forth shape the life of this biblical character. From a safe upbringing in his mother’s tent, Jacob must flee from the wrath of his brother Esau and lives as a refugee with his uncle Laban. After twenty years, he returns for the first time to meet Esau, but continues to drift back and forth within the borders of the land. Many years later, he follows his family down to Egypt due to famine. Nevertheless, Jacob is anxious to travel and all the time down there, he only thinks about returning ‘home’ to be buried among his ancestors. While the focus of my paper is on the Jacob narrative as a story about migrationin the Bible, I will seek to bring the biblical text into conversation with modern migration studies, especially concerning return migration and the issue of repatriation after death.
Fifteen Minute Break
12:00 – 12:45
Astrid Krabbe Trolle, Assistant Professor at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen
“Messengers of God: Migrants with a Mission.”
In Matthew’s gospel, we find the famous mission statement from Jesus to his disciples: Go therefore and make disciples of all Nations (Matthew 28:19). Although the missionary endeavor has a long and dark history, the core idea of moving through geographical space with a clear intent of winning people’s hearts is still central for many Christian migrants. However, today religious migration is increasingly embedded in neoliberal and global work chains, transforming the missionary intent into new and more individualized ways of being Christian in relation to host society populations. My case study for this presentation concerns Filipino work migrants who often see themselves as messengers of God in secular missionary fields such as Denmark. But my argument can also be extended to several other migrant groups, and I will trace the history of this example of “reverse mission” from former colonies to substantiate how Matthew is continuously readapted into new migratory contexts.
12:45 – 13:45
Lunch | Room #8B-0-54
13:45 – 14:30
Ida Hartmann, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Copenhagen
“Expanding Our Historical Imagination? The Potentials and Pitfalls of Reading the Bible through Anthropological Comparisons and Concepts.”
In January 2024, I joined a research project on ‘Divergent Views of Diaspora’ in the Hebrew bible. As the only anthropologist among biblical scholars and ancient historians, my task was to help develop a comparative and conceptual framework for reading the Hebrew bible through the lens of contemporary migration studies. The assumption was that contemporary migration studies could help biblical scholars and historians expand their ‘historical imagination’ and thus return the ancient material with fresh eyes. In this presentation, I reflect on the potentials and pitfalls of that endeavor. I suggest that while we cannot use ethnographic depictions of contemporary migration to explain what goes on in the Hebrew bible, we can use ethnographic comparison and anthropological concepts to unsettle our own cultural biases and expose our implicit assumptions thereby, potentially, diversifying how we read the biblical texts and the kinds of questions we ask of them. I exemplify my argument by bringing the book of Ruth into dialogue with ethnographic descriptions of female migration and anthropological theories on agency.
14:30 – 15:15
Terje Stordalen, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Old Testament Studies,
Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
“Jeremiah 44 and the Complexities of Exploring Ancient Migrations (and Diasporas).”
This presentation aims to discuss the third theme in the convenors’ invitation, “Transgressing Disciplinary Boundaries: What might scholars of contemporary migration learn from studies of ancient migration in the bible and vice versa?” The presentation makes three points, and they are interrelated. First present-day concepts of migration (and diaspora) are anything but self-evident – a point that is already well taken in the Copenhagen project group. Secondly, whichever modern concept we opt for concerning migration (and diaspora), they are not likely to reflect the actual experiences of people reflected in biblical and other ancient Near Eastern literature. Thirdly, we need to recognize the complexities of ancient experiences of (forced and other) migration as well as the flattening of these complexities – first in the biblical record, and then in present-day interpretations of the biblical record. The third point will be the main focus of the presentation – exemplified on the narrative in Jeremiah 44.
Fifteen Minute Break
15:30 – 16:15
Edmond Akwasi Agyeman, Associate Professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Akenten Appiah-Menka University
“African Migrants in Search of the Promised Land Abroad: The Role of Biblical Narratives in the Transcontinental Migration from Ghana.”
The contemporary transcontinental migration of Africans is deeply engraved in religious beliefs and practices. Due to the influence of Christian theology, a lot of migrants interpret their migration journey within the lens of the exodus experience of the Jews as narrated in the Old Testament. The crossing of the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea which has become part of the migration experience of several desperate youth leaving the African continent exudes a deep religious faith reminiscent of the Exodus experience. In this paper I critically examine the prosperity theology of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity in Ghana and how it interprets transcontinental migration as a salvation journey. I examine how these religious groups align salvation to prosperity and how the journey from Africa is interpreted as one from a place of domination and suffering to a place of freedom and greener pastures. The paper adopts a qualitative research approach and draws on Christian literature and primary data from interviews with migrants, returned migrants and Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors in Ghana and Europe. The paper shows that the imagery of the Exodus experience of the Jews narrated in the Old Testament has played a very important role in motivating African Christians to embark on the dangerous migration experience across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
16:15 – 17:00
Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Professor and Director at the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences, VID Specialized University
“The Stranger is a Friend: A Migrant Reading of the Returning Son.”
Luke’s parable of the so-called «prodigal» son (15:11-32) displays themes connected to movement, travel, hospitality and place often overlooked by scholars. The paper brings insights about the Ancient Mediterranian virtue of hospitality towards strangers (philoxenia) into conversation with interdisciplinary theories of migration, offering a fresh reading of the parable. Drawing on these insights, I read the son in the parable as a (return) migrant who receives, but possibly also performs acts of hospitality.
*Option to Walk to Dinner Location with Brief Tour
18:00 – 20:15
Dinner at Vækst
Sankt Peders Stræde 34
Friday, 13th September
10:00 – 10:10
Welcome & Housekeeping | Room #6B-1-62
10:15 – 11:00
Karin Neutel, Associate Professor at the Department of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Umeå University
“The Bible as a Successful Migrant? Translation, Domestication, and Nordic National Identity.”
In spite of its foreign origin, the Bible has managed to integrate so seamlessly into Nordic society that it is seen to form the basis of specifically Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish identity and values. This paper will use concepts from the politics and ethics of translation to reflect critically on how the Bible has achieved this status and what this means for contemporary attitudes towards nationalism and migration: how has the Bible become a successful migrant who is now used to create a sense of ‘us’, and to keep ‘others’ out?
11:00 – 11:45
Alexiana Fry, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Copenhagen
“The Myth of Multiculturalism in Esther: Comparing Western and Persian Empire ‘Tolerance’”.
In Esther 3:8-9, the main conflict of the book is introduced through the antagonist, Haman the Agagite, who argues through half-truth that because the Jews are scattered and separated amongst the people, and have different laws from every other people, they should not be tolerated and instead should be destroyed. Although there is disagreement about when the book was written, the Persian Empire is who is featured narratively as in power during this time, and King Ahasuerus is depicted as accepting genocide as an appropriate method of peace keeping. Many discussions on the conflict central to the discussion focus on Haman, with the general issues of empire as depicted in the book seen as easily manipulated, volatile, and farcical. Too often, with emphasis on Persian Empire as generally benevolent, gracious, and accepting towards Others in biblical scholarship, the insidious nature of how hegemonic powers still code and reify what differences “we” deem threatening. Comparing, then, the myth of multiculturalism as used in current discussion on (mainly) Western empires to rhetoric and practice in the book of Esther, this paper will address the underlying issues less discussed in regard to Haman’s polemic, and the cost of “being tolerated” amongst the minoritized, including Haman.
Fifteen Minute Break
12:00 – 12:45
Jacqueline Hidalgo, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
“The Bible as a Homing Device in a U.S. Latina/o/e Communities.”
In this paper, I draw on a couple of case studies as well as literature among ethnic Cuban and Mexican communities in the U.S. state of California. Putting different experiences with migration and displacement in conversation, I consider the varied ways through which certain Latina/o/e communities have treated the Bible as a “homing device.” Sara Ahmed (Queer Phenomenology; 2006) briefly described the idea of a “homing device” as a means by which migrants “find our way” and “learn what home means” (17). In the case of a predominantly ethnically Cuban evangelical community in Southern California, the contexts of migration (both departure and arrival) shape the ways by which certain community members encounter the Bible as a homing device, and how they understand it. In quite distinctive ways, a few examples of ethnic Mexican activists in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrate a different means of encountering the Bible and learning what home meant. Yet, both sets of case studies also exemplify how affective meanings about “home” get made around the Bible that are not as specifically about biblical contents as they are about the contexts of engagement.
12:45 – 13:45
Lunch | Room #8B-0-54
13:45 – 14:30
Michael Brixofte Petersen, PhD Fellow at the Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University
“Negotiated Authority: Contested Catholicism amongst Polish Migrant Chaplains in Denmark.”
The Catholic Church in Denmark supports various migrant communities, who actively engage with the Church amid their lives in transition. One of the largest and most vibrant of these is the Polish language group, present across several churches in Denmark. These migrants are further accommodated by Catholic priests from Poland who work in Denmark as chaplains responsible for the migrant congregations. In these contexts, the Church functions as a helpful navigator for migrants encountering challenges while also maintaining firm Catholic theological authority. However, perspectives on the role of the institution in these migratory situations differ among the Church’s institutional representatives, revealing tensions between religious tradition and social accommodation. A potent example of such tensions and contestations is found between two Polish migrant churches in Copenhagen, administered by two different orders: the Redemptorists and the Jesuits. Based on 12
months of fieldwork in these environments, I highlight the interplay between how Church members actively evaluate the authoritative role of Catholicism and how priests articulate diverging forms of Catholicism. I argue that these differences translate into diverging Catholic diaspora policies and ultimately lead to competing claims about the role of the Catholic Church in a migratory setting. This presentation, therefore, calls for attention to the locally situated engagements and contestations when studying transnational Christianity.
14:30 – 15:15
Eric Trinka, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Religion & Philosophy Department Chair, Emory & Henry College
“Texts in/and Motion: Theorizing Cultures of Mobility and Migration for Biblical Interpretation.”
Studies of movement, mobility, and migration in the ancient past are becoming more numerous. Biblical scholars have participated in this work for the better part of 3 decades. Despite having opened the conversation on how scholars might relate findings from migration studies to the work of textual interpretation, and a proliferation of migration related readings in the last decade, key methodological components that might guide scholarly investigation remain absent. Outside of readings that showcase migrant experiences with texts, few biblical scholars have undertaken the challenging work of appropriately grounding themselves in migration theory or mobility studies. Failure to do so has left noteworthy lacunae in researchers’ epistemologies of movement and place that require redress. The key contribution of this paper is to provide a more solid theoretical grounding for discussing the processes of human movement. I will provide an overview of key shifts in the field of migration studies over the last century and chart moments of meaningful interaction between migration studies and other bible-adjacent fields. The paper will end with prescriptions for moving forward with truly interdisciplinary mobility/
migration-informed readings of biblical texts.
Fifteen Minute Break
15:30 – 16:30
Closing Discussion
