sustain:if:able kiwi

Reverse migration: insights from an 18th-century journey from the Pacific to Scotland

I’m delighted to have a chapter proposal accepted for a planned Migration and Religion in Australia and the Pacific volume with Springer Nature, edited by Rev. Dr. Titus S. Olorunnisola, Interim Director of Research at Whitley College, University of Divinity, Melbourne.

My chapter proposal is the first written output from my 2023 University of Glasgow Library Research Fellowship, where I was able to spend time immersed in a unique archive collection of mission archives at the the Archives and Special Collections of the University of Glasgow. My research fellowship was titled Race, justice and mission. During the archival search, I came across 19 letters written by an indigenous man, who was living in Scotland for two years in the 1860’s undertaking Bible translation work. The letters offer a glimpse of the theological resources that an indigenous migrant brings to their journey of migration.

Here’s the chapter proposal which I submitted a few months ago:

Reverse migration: insights from an 18th-century journey from the Pacific to Scotland

Historical imaginaries of migration to Australia and the Pacific focus on journeys north to south. Motivated by science, commerce and religion, Europeans embarked on so-called “South Sea Voyages.” However, in the corners of the archives are experiences from south to north, as indigenous peoples voyaged north (Brook, 2001; O’Malley, 2015). This paper analyses the experience of Williamu, an indigenous man from Aneitynum, an island in what is now Vanuatu, who lived in Scotland between 1861 and 1862 and worked alongside Rev John Inglis in Bible translation. During his time in Scotland, Williamu wrote nineteen letters, which provide a “vivid picture of the “First Impressions of Britain and its People”” by an indigenous man (Inglis, 1890, p. 317).

Theoretically, these letters open windows into a reverse migration. Missiology uses the term reverse mission (Adogame, 2013) to focus on the role of Christians from the global South in mission to Europe and North America. Williamu’s letters illuminate the role of indigenous peoples in Bible translation. They invite questions about the role of “reverse mission” and power dynamics present in the translation of Scripture. Further, the letters provide insight into the theological resources a migrant used to respond to grief and suffering. In particular, while in Scotland, Williamu hears news of the death of Dora, his wife, from “migratory” diseases. Hence, Williamu’s letters stand as the first written indigenous migrant theodicy of the Pacific. Research into reverse migration is needed to challenge historical imaginaries and foreground indigenous communities’ resources in journeys of migration.

Acknowledgements: The research was made possible by the University of Glasgow, the Archives and Special Collections, the resources of the Trinity College collections, and the award of a Visiting Library Research Fellowship in 2023.

The mission of local resilience centres

A devotional I shared at a monthly Church Council I chair.

First, a welcome to new members. We are grateful for your willingness to offer your wisdom, gifts, and experience. Second, a welcome to returning members. We are equally grateful for your willingness to offer your wisdom, gifts, and experience.

The gospel reading for Sunday is of particular relevance to a church council.

In Mark 10: 42-45: Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So, just in case any of us imagine that being on a church council is a chance to lord it over a church, Jesus is quite clear. We are here to serve.

We serve because of verse 45, the example of Jesus who comes to serve. And as we are reminded in other places in the Gospels, Jesus serves not just people inside the church but all those who are in need. So we, as a church council, are called to serve this church and the wider community.

Today, we have our budgets and our agendas. As we make decisions, we are making them because we are here to serve the community.

I was thinking about what it means to serve the broader community as I drove past the church building a few weeks ago. It was the day after the floods, which closed our state highway and rationed our water supply and caused some of our neighbours houses to be red-stickered.

Outside our church, as you can see from the photo, the Council had set up a water tanker. As I drove past, people from the community were at the water tanker filling up containers with drinking water. So, we, as a church, were part of serving our community. In a very practical way, providing a parking place for a water tanker.

I was on a zoom today, learning about climate change and Christian faith. The speaker described local congregations in a time of climate change as resilience centres. The speaker observed how congregations have buildings, locations, connections and networks with the community. So, in times of emergency, a congregation can play a role in serving the community.

So today we can be thankful for the way we as a congregation could serve a few weeks ago. But we also need to think about what it means to serve again.

Because the recent rain event is likely to happen again. Our community is likely to experience floods and damaged roads and water challenges again. So we will have future opportunities to serve. There might be other things we can do as a congregation that might help us be a resilience centre, serving in this community, besides having a place for a water tanker to park.

So I’ll pause there and see if my devotional thoughts have sparked any reflections or pondering.

listening as community building in public spaces

It was great to begin a research side project yesterday and sit at a public community event doing some ethnography.

The side project is researching the science of listening and social connection, seeking to understand what happens when adults gather for an hour to have great literature read aloud. It is a pro-bono AngelWings Ltd project that complements and localises my Birmingham University/John Templeton Cross-training research into the social impact of listening in community organisations.

This research side project will use a mix of methods, including observation and interviews with readers and listeners. So yesterday involved not only observing, but also introducing myself and the research with information and consent forms.

Hence, the photo is of a brand new research journal and pen for taking notes, along with consent forms and information.

For those who want to know more about the project and the connections I am making between researching listening and community building, see here.

the fun of research coding Ordinary knitters

Today was fun.

Today was a research coding day.

Today was out with the coloured highlighters and A3 sheets of paper, seeking threads and weave in focus group interviews in the Ordinaryknitters project.

After the toil of transcribing and cleaning transcripts, today was about the joy of making patterns, listening to people who knit for Christian projects in public spaces.

I know there are computer programmes to help with coding. There are the cheap options ranging from highlighter and comment functions on Word, through to paid software like NVivo.

But somehow getting off screen is vitalising. Perhaps it’s because I’m analysing the words and thoughts of knitters, for whom the tactile is so present in their theology and practice.

Perhaps its the physical detaching in which words on paper are seen in different ways that words on a screen. And so new ways of seeing and linking emerge.

Today was fun. A reminder that any research project has moments of creativity and colour.