From the body: an exchange on scholarship and advocacy

Advocacy in the study of religion\s

“…I would answer all of the above' (Marquardt and Vásquez 2014). These activities can be highly valuable for them on a personal level, as a platform to further develop their research or as a part of their academic ethos.…”

“…At one point in the dialogue with her co-author Marquardt states: 'Relationships have been central to my story' (Marquardt and Vásquez 2014). In the latter case, advocacy activities are a function of these relationships.…”

“…Human rights and related values or aims such as access to justice or the desire to contribute toward 'human flourishing' or to 'creating a more just and humane society' (Marquardt in Marquardt and Vásquez 2014) offer anchorage for advocacy activities for some scholars. Others do not share this grounding, for example because of human rights' enshrinement of a Eurocentric or Enlightenment-centric legacy (see Johnson 2014, who feels compelled to engage in advocacy because he finds the violation of the integrity of Hawaiian burials 'egregious' even without reference to human rights discourses).…”

“…Others do not share this grounding, for example because of human rights' enshrinement of a Eurocentric or Enlightenment-centric legacy (see Johnson 2014, who feels compelled to engage in advocacy because he finds the violation of the integrity of Hawaiian burials 'egregious' even without reference to human rights discourses). Similarly, Vásquez provides a broader understanding of advocacy: 'For me, advocacy involves positioning yourself vis-à-vis salient problems in your community, that is, taking a critical stance in response to an urgent problem in the social, historical, cultural, and environmental context in which one is embedded' (Marquardt and Vásquez 2014). Advocating such a framework for justice no longer counts as advocacy in the stricter sense as defined above.…”

“…Sometimes, in religious studies literature, advocacy is used to denounce a confessional, 'emic,' or 'insider' mode (see also the discussion in Marquardt and Vásquez 2014): it is treated as a synonym for 'theology' (Rocha and Baumann 2008, 81), treated as the opposite of 'objectivity' (Williams 2008, 161) or as inappropriately bringing one's belief into the classroom and one's research (Reader 2008). We can speak of somebody advocating atheism, faith, or specific approaches to the study of a phenomenon, etc.…”