Vic Thasiah, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Studies and Religion
vthasiah@callutheran.edu
Humanities 217
Areas of expertise: Environmental philosophy and conservation
Office Hours: By appointment
About
Vic Thasiah teaches in the environmental studies, religious studies, and honors programs. Areas of interest include environmental literature, philosophy, and conservation; religion, violence, and culture; and Chinese Mountains-and-Rivers Poetry.
He is working on a book called Veins of Jade: Mountains-and-Rivers Poetry and Recreation on Public Lands, which considers Chinese philosophical and poetic perspectives on recreation (such as recreation informed by a certain kind of idleness, an early Chinese cultural ideal), while exploring the relationships with landscapes and communities that arise from it. Drawing primarily on ancient philosophy and classical poetry, the project engages both natural (geological and ecological) and social (historical and political) processes shaping public lands, asking what it means to participate in their entangled transformations and play well amid them.
Vic is the founder of Runners for Public Lands, a national advocacy organization that empowers runners to protect public lands and expand access to nature, where he continues to volunteer. He's also currently developing an interdisciplinary field of inquiry called Trail Running Studies.
Education
Certified California Naturalist
Ph.D., University of Oxford
B.A., UC Santa Cruz
Expertise
Selected Course Topics
Environmental Justice (Honors)
Intro to Environmental Studies
Religion and Political Thought
Violence, Religion, and Politics
Religion, Identity, and Vocation
Zen Buddhism in the West
Current Work
Book project called Playing Well with Others: Recreation and Transformation on Public Lands
Selected Book Chapters
"Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Ecological Imagination," in Views of Nature and Dualism: Rethinking Philosophical, Theological, and Religious Assumptions in the Anthropocene (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
"Race and Climate: Decolonizing Liberal Arts Education," in So That All May Flourish, eds. Marcia J. Bunge, Jason A. Mahn, and Martha E. Stortz (Fortress Press, 2023).
"Religion, Forestry, and Democracy in Rwanda after Genocide," in Eco-Reformation: Grace and Hope for a Planet in Peril, eds. Lisa E. Dahill and Jim Martin-Schramm (Wipf & Stock, 2016). Review.
"The Right to Freedom of Association: Organizing in Rwanda after Genocide," in On Secular Governance: Lutheran Perspectives on Contemporary Legal Issues, eds. Marie A. Failinger and Ronald W. Duty (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016).
"Reconfiguring Rwandan Church-State Relations," in Lutheran Identity and Political Theology, eds. Carl Henric-Grenholm and Goran Gunner (Wipf & Stock, 2014).
Selected Journal Articles
"Equitable Access to Nature and Transformational Politics," Buddhist-Christian Studies, 44:1 (2024), 169-173.
"Collapsing Space and Time: Thich Nhat Hanh's Ecological Humanism," Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 29, 2022.
"Critically Engaging Public Officials in Rwanda," Studies in World Christianity 23:3 (2017), 257-280.
Selected Presentations
"Thich Nhat Hanh, a Mountain Forest, and Equitable Access to Nature," American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, Texas, November 18, 2023.
"Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on Environmental Justice," American Academy of Religion, Denver, Colorado, November 20, 2022.
"Toward an Asian-American Philosophy of Nature: Thich Nhat Hanh on Wildness and Wellness," American Academy of Religion (Western Region), March 20, 2021.
"Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on Decolonizing Your Mind," American Academy of Religion, Denver, Colorado, November 19, 2018.
"Incubating Democracy in Development in Rwanda," Religion and Power: New Directions in Social Ethics Conference, Princeton University, March 12, 2015. Invited presentation.
"'Things Are Not Okay in Rwanda If You Shut Up': Community Organizing Practices and Human Rights Advocacy after Genocide," Society of Christian Ethics, Chicago, January 11, 2015.
"Countering Complicity: Rwandan Political Theology after Genocide," American Academy of Religion, San Diego, California, November 23, 2014.
"The Right to Freedom of Association: Organizing in Rwanda after Genocide," Lutheran Perspectives on Contemporary Legal Issues, Valparaiso University Law School, Chicago, March 27, 2014.
"Toward a Rwandan Political Theology," Remembering the Past, Living the Future: Lutheran Tradition in Transition Conference, University of Uppsala, Sweden, October 9, 2013.
"On Religious Anarchism," Third International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society, March 9, 2013.
"Second Realities: Karl Barth's Ethics and Socially-Engaged Art," Society of Christian Ethics (Pacific Meeting), February 10, 2012.
"On Comprehensive Immigration Reform," Society of Christian Ethics Annual Meeting, January 8, 2010.
"Faith and Immigration Reform," Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Briefing, Washington, D.C., October 14, 2009.
Public Writing
Vic's public writing and interviews have appeared at Outside Magazine, Trail Runner Magazine, iRunFar, and Freetrail, among other media and news outlets.
$1,250 CLU Sabbatical Grant, 2024
$5,000 CLU Faculty Research and Creative Work Grant, 2023
$1,250 Hewlett Faculty Research Grant, 2023
$40,000 Sabbatical Research Grant, Louisville Institute, 2017-2018
$5,000 CLU Faculty Research and Creative Work Grant, 2014
$5,000 Wabash Summer Research Grant, 2013
$1,250 Hewlett Faculty Research Grant, 2013