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- Title
Teaching Malcolm X Alongside Martin Luther King in German Schools: An Interreligious Perspective.
- Authors
Schulze-Marmeling, Friederike
- Abstract
While learning from and with the biography of Martin Luther King is widely practiced in German Religious Education, there is little educational material about Malcolm X available. In this article, it is proposed that the biography of Malcolm X should be taught in religion classes alongside the biography of Martin Luther King in the context of Biographical Learning. It is argued that through including Malcolm X in educational material about the civil rights movement, a better understanding of its core theme of racism and the struggle against it can be given to the students. As Malcolm X's social background, as well as his analysis of racism and his political strategies differed from those of Martin Luther King, the students are presented with a more plural and nuanced picture of the civil rights movement and might find it easier to apply lesson about racism in the civil rights movement context to their own time and environment. The main focus of this article though is the suggestion that through teaching Malcolm X alongside King, an Interreligious Learning process can be initiated. Considering the rise of religious diversity in German Schools, teaching about the Muslim activist Malcolm X could not only make Muslim students to feel more included; it is argued as well that one might learn about Islam from Malcolm X in schools. This is illustrated via three aspects in Malcolm X's belief, namely his understanding of submission/engaged surrender as a way of empowerment, his understanding of Tawhid/unicity of God as a rejection of racism, and his critique of Christian love as a tool of oppression. The aim is to show that these three aspects, which are brought into dia logue here with the liberation-theological thinking of Amina Wadud and Farid Esack, can be made fruitful for Interreligious Learning.
- Subjects
KING, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968; AMERICAN civil rights movement
- Publication
Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte: Internationale Zeitschrift für Theologie und Geschichtswissenschaft, 2020, Vol 33, Issue 1, p120
- ISSN
0932-9951
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.13109/kize.2020.33.1.120