Thank you for this rich conversation, Bryce. Lukasik shows how Copts get read as both martyrs and migrants, and how “visibility” can grant recognition while sharpening exclusion. Her attention to asylum law, policing, and friendships makes faith’s entanglement with empire hard to ignore.
William, thank you. Clean narratives about the Other, such as either the worldwide Christian persecution narrative or the lawless nonwhite immigrant narrative, don't hold up well when one meets the actual subjects of these narratives, as Lukasik has. Because the Copts in the United States fall at the intersection of these narratives, one might begin to question these narratives before even meeting the people involved. Hopefully, such questioning might lead us to meet the Other. (I'm attending a Coptic Orthodox Church service in Nashville tomorrow in part to meet some of these remarkable people.)
Thank you for this rich conversation, Bryce. Lukasik shows how Copts get read as both martyrs and migrants, and how “visibility” can grant recognition while sharpening exclusion. Her attention to asylum law, policing, and friendships makes faith’s entanglement with empire hard to ignore.
William, thank you. Clean narratives about the Other, such as either the worldwide Christian persecution narrative or the lawless nonwhite immigrant narrative, don't hold up well when one meets the actual subjects of these narratives, as Lukasik has. Because the Copts in the United States fall at the intersection of these narratives, one might begin to question these narratives before even meeting the people involved. Hopefully, such questioning might lead us to meet the Other. (I'm attending a Coptic Orthodox Church service in Nashville tomorrow in part to meet some of these remarkable people.)
Very intriguing. Keep us posted, as they say!