The Interfaith Photovoice Initiative

“… Muslims and Christians use photovoice to bridge cultural divides, encourage mutual advocacy, and engage communities in the pursuit of social justice? ”

Team Members/Contributors

Roman Williams Contact Me
William L Sachs Contact Me
Catherine Ruth Holtmann Contact Me

About this collaborative inquiry team discontinued

We are persuaded that understanding and advocacy among Muslims and Christians, especially around the issues of immigration and refugee resettlement, should be a central concern of congregations, clergy, and scholars in North America today. The perspectives of people from one faith tradition toward another have been treated historically and textually, as seen in works such as A History of Christian-Muslim Relations (Goddard, 2000) and Muslims and Christians Face to Face (Zebiri 2014). There are also popular works that highlight the potential of face-to-face conversations, such as The Faith Club (Oliver, et al, 2006) and Getting to the Heart of Interfaith (Falcon, et al, 2009). The problem is that neither textual works nor stories of interfaith engagement always empower people to preserve and communicate their experiences to their broader communities and beyond, which is especially true of the most vulnerable. This project asks if there are other means for people to give voice and advocate for one another in ways that can inform and influence their communities. We also wonder what kinds of data could be generated to help understand effective strategies of interfaith interactions, immigrant advocacy, engagement, and change. To investigate these questions, we propose to employ a participatory action research method called photovoice.