Attached to Paper Session
Meeting Preference
In 2013, the India Bureau of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released *Crimes against Women: Three Tragedies and the Call for Reform in India.* The initial narrative in this compilation, “The Murder of Sister Valsa: A WSJ Investigation,” was co-authored by Krishna Pokharel and Paul Beckett. It narrates the tragic killing of Sr. Valsa John Malamel, a Thomas Christian nun, which occurred on November 15, 2011, in Pachhwara village, situated in the Pakur district of Jharkhand, eastern India.
In this paper, I will undertake three tasks: a) introduce the incident, b) review the decolonial discourse of “religious conversion” surrounding the murder of the nun (the narrative takes an ironic turn considering that the patriarchal church was unhappy with some of the nun’s priorities), and c) re-examine the event, foregrounding the role of illegal mining and the nun’s leadership and nonviolent struggle against it.
Within my paper, I will highlight the strategic importance of emphasizing that the nun was a Thomas Christian, originating from a community of Indian Christians claiming pre-colonial and apostolic Eastern Christian heritage. I will explore how this emphasis can unsettle decolonial methods that target Indian Christians for being *angrez* or British, as well as narratives that conflate Christianity and colonialism. Ultimately, I will argue for the significance of approaching the study of Christianity from its Eastern side and from its gendered margins, contending that such an approach can contribute to the decolonization of misguided decolonial methods.
Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)
This paper aims to critically engage with the narrative surrounding the tragic killing of Sr. Valsa John Malamel, a Thomas Christian nun, as explored in the 2013 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) publication *Crimes against Women.* This narrative dissects the brutal killing of Sr. Valsa John Malamel, a Thomas Christian nun, in Pachhwara village, Jharkhand, India, on November 15, 2011. The paper undertakes three objectives: introducing the incident, reviewing the decolonial discourse on “religious conversion,” and re-evaluating the event, focusing on illegal mining and the nun’s leadership against it. Emphasizing Sr. Valsa John's Thomas Christian identity, rooted in pre-colonial Eastern Christian heritage, challenges narratives conflating Christianity with colonialism. This study exposes the flaws in decolonial methods targeting Indian Christians as remnants of colonialism, advocating for an Eastern perspective and a focus on gender in the study of Christianity to decolonize misguided approaches.