Your interview should reflect issues and ideas that you gleaned from Japinga’s text: DISCUSS WITH

YOUR INTERVIEWEE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE FOUND IN JAPINGA THAT IS OF 
SPECIAL INTEREST AND IMPORTANCE TO YOU. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR REPORT CLEARLY 
INDICATES THOSE QUESTIONS.Your interview should reflect issues and ideas that you gleaned from 
Japinga’s text: DISCUSS WITH YOUR INTERVIEWEE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE FOUND 
IN JAPINGA THAT IS OF SPECIAL INTEREST AND IMPORTANCE TO YOU. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR 
REPORT CLEARLY INDICATES THOSE QUESTIONS. 

Finish your reading of ​Feminism and Christianity​, and then use as many of the ideas and concepts as 
possible that you find in this book when you conduct your interview. You should have 5 or 6 key 
ideas taken from the book which you wish to explore with someone. The woman that you interview 
should have extensive experience in religious community. ​THE INTERVIEWEE MUST NOT BE A 
FAMILY MEMBER, OR FRIEND!​ The idea here is to stretch beyond your current state of knowledge 
and understanding, and family/friends who know you well may not provide that “expansion”. As you 
now know, Japinga takes a rather radical position with regard to “patriarchy”, or patriarchical 
language and authority in the church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. How wide-spread do you think 
her analysis is accepted by the woman who you interview? Is she a religious feminist? If not, how is 
she processing the cultural issues that Japinga discuss? Note in parenthesis when you reference 
something in the book during the interview process. The more references to the book, the better the 
evaluation!   

Below you will find a link to an interview form adapted from a form used by the University of 
Wisconsin-Eau Claire Women’s Studies Program. Use this form as your guide for posting a 
two page summary of an interview that you conduct with a woman of your choice who is 
active in a religious community. Use the questions as a general guide to your own report (in 
other words all questions are not required). I expect for you to post a 2-3 page report in the 
FORUM.  

This is the only assigned essay due this week.  

QUESTIONS 

I’d like to begin by asking some basic background questions.

What was the date and place of your birth?
How do you designate your race?
What is your ancestry or ethnicity?
How many male and/or female siblings do you have?

What is your birth order in the family?
What is the name and occupation of your partner or spouse, if you have
one?
How many children you have, if any? Boys? Girls?
How many grandchildren, if any? Boys? Girls?*Only appropriate for older
participants!
Where did you attend school and what degrees have you earned? *If you
have this information already don’t bother to ask this.
Is there anything else about your general background that you think is
important for me to know?

Stories from childhood, adolescence and adulthood

1. Describe your relationship with your parents and siblings when you were

growing up.
Tell me about the community and neighborhood where you grew up and what
religious communities were important to you (if any).
Describe how your family was or was not connected to these (or other) religious
institutions, as well as the community and neighborhood.
What values did you learn from your family, religious institutions, and other
people and institutions in the community? Which of these values continue to play
a large role in your adult years
Give an example of how gender, race, ethnicity and social class were important
in building your understandings of yourself, your home religious communities,
and society?
What memories do you have of being discriminated against or seeing others who
were victims of discrimination? Do you believe that such experiences have
expanded or lessened over time?
What did you learn from experiencing or witnessing such acts of discrimination?
Describe any efforts you have witnessed or participated in to confront
discrimination. What tactics or strategies were used?
What memories of your childhood continue to make a difference in your later life?
In other words, how have your early experiences of being a woman within a
religious community continued to play an important role in adult life?

Thank her for participating in the interview and tell her you will contact her when the
research poster is ready for her to review. ​It is a great idea to send a thank-you note
the next day.

While the interview is fresh in your mind, I suggest you immediately write notes about
your thoughts and impressions. As soon as possible, you should also listen
to the tape and take notes of key statements and themes. Remember that you will need
significant quotes for your paper and poster!