Yesterday I was at the Missing Peoples Multiplex at Cape Town, and I was initially a bit … taken aback by many of the empty seats. At first I chalked it up to the general seeming lack of interest in unreached peoples as a whole. But then, later on, I went to the Muslim Dialogue which had a decent number of people in it. And I looked back and saw the Multiplexes held at the same time – Globalization, Diaspora, Muslims, and Missing Peoples. And now I’m wondering: is there less interest in UPGs… or are we splitting into niches?
Muslim peoples, after all, are unreached. And many diaspora peoples are as well. And globalization certainly has connections to unreached peoples. So perhaps the people who were “missing participants” in the Missing Peoples Multiplex were either in Diaspora or the Muslim track (or even perhaps in the globalization track).
I’m not saying this is the answer to the lack of participation in UPG tracks. But I am wondering now if perhaps in our minds the “unreached peoples” idea has become so common that we are starting to see sub-niches develop in some of the major conferences which are “siphoning” people off from the main track.
Just a point to ponder. Comments welcome.
{ 0 comments… add one now }