Misunderstanding Stories [Hardcover]

Description: How can we work toward mutual understanding in our increasingly diverse and interconnected world? Pastoral theologian Melinda McGarrah Sharp approaches this multifaceted, interdisciplinary question by beginning with moments of intercultural misunderstanding. Using misunderstanding stories from her experience working with the Peace Corps in Suriname, Dr. McGarrah Sharp argues that we must recognize the limits of our own cultural perspectives in order to have meaningful intercultural encounters that are more mutually empowering and hopeful. Bringing together resources from pastoral theology, ethnography, and postcolonial studies, she provides a valuable resource for investigating the complexity of providing care and fostering communities of belonging across cultural differences. McGarrah Sharp illustrates a process of moving from disconnection to regard for diverse others as neighbors who share a common yearning for hopeful and meaningful connection. Leaders in faith communities, practitioners of care, and scholars will all be able to use this resource to better understand the conflicts, tensions, and uncertainties of our postcolonial twenty-first-century world. An included discussion guide facilitates classroom study, small group discussion, and personal reflection. Endorsements: At the heart of Misunderstanding Stories are moving and exquisitely analyzed narratives of intercultural (mis-)understanding, set in the context of a Maroon village in my native Suriname. Working towards augmenting the toolbox of pastoral theology with postcolonial studies, this is a book driven by a deep hunger for humanization and justice, and informed by an embodied sense of differential privilege. --Gloria Wekker, Professor Emeritus of Gender Studies, Utrecht University, the Netherlands Melinda McGarrah Sharp does what few interculturalists seem able to bear--she makes our intercultural conflicts the focus of her work and our learning. The result is a book that helpl3¿