Misunderstanding Stories

"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 helps us explore profound challenges: the inevitability of harming one another, deep relational breaches amid misunderstood cultural differences, self-reflexivity and complicity after colonialism, linguistic chasms, and unresolvable tensions. Adequate postcolonial interculturality is not avoiding these conflicts, but navigating them constructively. McGarrah Sharp illuminates that path."

--Kathleen J. Greider, Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counseling, Claremont School of Theology



"McGarrah Sharp insists that to understand we must grapple with our misunderstanding, a misunderstanding heightened by complicity within Western colonialism. The book is unique in its creative use of postcolonial theory to correct basic assumptions about identity development and empathy and its new model of care with a step-by-step analysis of relational breach, crisis, redress, and reconciliation."

--Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, Vanderbilt University



"Encounters across cultures are inevitably fraught with dangers of conflict and misunderstanding. Misunderstanding Stories offers a resourceful, nuanced, sensitive, and useful engagement with intercultural misunderstanding. This book makes a much-needed, substantial appeal to pastoral theologians to attend seriously to postcolonial perspectives for a more adequate response to the complexities of culture. Melinda McGarrah Sharp is to be commended."

--Emmanuel Y. Lartey, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling, Candler School of Theology



"McGarrah Sharp challenges readers to reflect more deeply on their own misunderstanding stories and to stay longer in places of vulnerability in order to move toward more complex forms of mutual healing and neighborly love. The writing is both scholarly and captivating, as the author distills wisdom from diverse fields and helps us understand how to live with each other with integrity and hope."

--Mary Clark Moschella, Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Yale Divinity School