Shelley Gay Ashdown, D. Miss.

Shelley Ashdown
Email:  shelley_ashdown@gial.edu
 
Education
 
Biola University, School of Intercultural Studies
          2001, Doctor of Missiology
          Dissertation Topic:
The Foundational Nature of Self in Ndorobo World View
 
Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
          1980, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communications
 
Southern California College
          1978, B.A. in Religion and Psychology
 
Professional Experience
 
    Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, Dallas, TX
          2004-Present, Assistant Professor
 
          Courses Taught
AL5319 Biblical Backgrounds
AL5314 Culture, Language and Mind
AL5326 Biblical Hebrew for Translators I
AL5325 Principles of Old Testament Exegesis
LD5372 Social and Political Organization
LD5374 Christianity Across Cultures
LD5373 Religion and Worldview
LD5151 Cross Cultural Teaching Seminar
LD5387 Training Across Cultures
 
    Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, Nairobi, Kenya
          2001-2004, Lecturer: Sociolinguistics, Bible Use in African Contexts, Principles of
          Teaching, and Sociology of Education, Music I & II.
 
    Oregon SIL, Northwest Christian College, Eugene, Oregon
          2001, Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology and Ethnographic Research Methods.
 
    Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
          1992-1994, Associate Professor, Anthropological Linguistics, The Bible as Literature.
 
    SIL Anthropology Consultant
          1994-Present
 
Publications
 
2012.  The Clever Hare in Torobo Folklore.  Cross-Cultural Studies  38: 87-114.
 
2012.  Biblical Contexts.  Syllabus  1/2: 1-18.  Paper posted at: www.syllabusjournal.org
 
2012.  "My Heart Passed Through My Mouth": African Telling of a Most Afraid Experience.  Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts  13(1). Paper posted at: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/current/ashdown.html
 
2011.  African Traditional Religion in the Torobo Context of Conflict and Resolution.  In The Year 2011 Proceedings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion--Southwest. Jon Loessin and Scott Stripling, eds. pp. 20-29. Dallas, TX: ASSR-SW.
 
2010.  Time and Eldership in Torrobo World View.  AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples  6(3):261-271.
 
2010.  The Influence of Social Worlds on Engaging Ideas.  Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching  3(1):7-23.  Paper posted at: http://www.nu.edu/assets/resources/pageResources/journal-of-research-in-innovative-teaching-volume-3.pdf
 
2010. The Socio-Cultural Role of the Monster Image in Ndorobo Folklore.  In  Creating Humanity, Discovering Monstrosity: Myths & Metaphors of Enduring Evil. E. Nelson, J. Burear and H. Priest, eds., pp. 291-300. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press. http://www.interdisciplinary.net/wpcontent/uploads/2010/11/monsters7ever12009103.pdf
 
2010.  Applied Instructional Model for Managerial Intercultural Competence. 17th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences 17(1):21-34. Paper posted at: http://asbbs.org/files/2010/ASBBS2010v1/PDF/A/Ashdown.pdf
 
2009.  Ethics and the Non-Physical Self in Ndorobo World View.  African Sociological Review  13(1):26-37.
 
2009.  The Structure of Cognition Governing Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organizations.  The International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management  9(4):155-168.  Paper posted at: http://ijm.cgpublisher.com/
 
2009.  Torobo World View Construct of Nature.  InterCulture: An Interdisciplinary Journal  6(2).
Paper posted at:  http://dih.fsu.edu/interculture/volume6_2/Ashdown.pdf
 
2009.  Efficacy of Whole Language Narrative for Vernacular Literacy Education among Thai Language Minorities.  In Annals of Language and Learning: Proceedings of the 2009 International Online Language Conference (IOLC 2009). Azadeh Shafaei and Mehran Nejati, eds. pp. 317-329. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers.
 
2008.  The Relationship Between Ndorobo Personality and African Traditional Religion as a Human Development Issue.  The African Symposium  8(2):128-136.     Paper posted at: http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/TAS8.2/TAS8.2Shelly.pdf      
 
2008.  World View Methodological Questions for Comparative Religion.  Presented at the 2nd International Online Conference on Religious Studies: “Comparative Religion, From Subject to Problem,” sponsored by the Moscow Society for the Study of Religions, October 2008. Paper posted at: http://www.e-religions.net/page.php?id=10&comments=1
 
2008.  The Supernatural Category of the Non-physical Self in Ndorobo World View. In VIVA Africa 2008:  Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference on African Studies. T. Machalik, K. Mildnerova, and J. Zahorik, eds. pp. 100-111. The University of West Bohemia. Pilsen, Czech Republic. Pilsen: ADELA Publishing.
 
2008.  Consideration of Converging World Views: Christianity & African Traditional Religion Among U.S. Immigrants. Conference proceedings for Conference on Christianity, Culture, and Diversity in America: Conversations about Diversity-A Kingdom Calling, hosted by Huntington University, Indiana, Nov. 14, 2008.  Paper posted at: http://www.huntington.edu/cccda/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ashdown-christianity-atr.pdf
 
2007.  Investigating World View Through Narrative Analysis.  GIAL Electronic Notes Series  1(2),  Paper posted at:  http://www.gial.edu/GIALens/vol1-1/Ashdown-Narrative-Article.pdf
 
1994.  Kinship Analysis of the Western Red Karen. Occasional Papers. Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand: Payap University Press.
 
Presentations
 
2013.  Gender Fairness in Shariah Law. Presented at the 29th Annual Advancement of Women in Higher Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, April 4-5.
 
2013.  Justice Among Thieves: Cadi Wisdom in Niger. Presented at the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, Strand: ASSR, Dallas, Texas, March 8-10.
 
2011.  The Influence of Categorization on Translation Meaning. Presented at the International Meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature, Section: Mind, Society, and Tradition, King's College, London, England, July 4-8.
 
2011.  Duality of Isaiah's Yahweh: Sacred Redeemer and Unmerciful Judge. Presented at the International Meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature, Section: Concept Analysis and the Hebrew Bible, King's College, London, England, July 4-8.
 
2011.  The Clever Hare in Torobo Folklore. Presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of Southwest Texas Popular Culture and the American Culture Association, Folklore Section and Biography, San Antonio, Texas, April 20-23.
 
2010.  Tribal Religions from the Heart: Hebrew Lēḇ and Torobo Oltau. Presented at the XXth World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religion, Religion: A Human Phenomenon, Section: Comparison between Systems of Belief and Practice, Toronto, Canada, August 20, 2010.
 
2010.  The Torobo Social Construct of Ethics. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Commission of Religious Studies, Strand: Ethics, Society and Cultural Analysis, Dallas, TX, March 13.
 
2009.  A Cognitive Linguistic Approach  to Go’el in Deutero-Isaiah. Presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting for Society of Biblical Literature, Section: Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21.
 
2009.  The Socio-Cultural Role of the Monster Image in Ndorobo Folklore. Presented at the 7th Global Conference on Monsters and the Monstrous: Myth and Metaphor of Enduring Evil, Mansfield College, Oxford, England, September 16.
 
2009.  The Structure of Cognition Governing Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, June 27.
 
2009.  Socio-Cultural Model of Analyzing Educational Environments Across Cultures. Presented at Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators, Dallas, Texas, February 17.
 
2008. The Supernatural Category of the Non-physical Self in Ndorobo World View.  Presented at VIVA Africa 2008: Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference on African Studies, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic, March 25, 2008.
 
2008.  The Ceremony of Eldership Among the Ndorobo of Kenya: Notions of Obligation and Time Continuity. Presented at 12th Annual Conference on Holidays, Ritual, Festival, Celebration and Public Display, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, September 27.
 
2008.  Consideration of Converging World Views: Christianity & African Traditional Religion Among U.S. Immigrants. Presented at the Conference on Christianity, Culture, and Diversity in America: Conversations about Diversity-A Kingdom Calling, hosted by Huntington University, Indiana, Nov. 14, 2008. 
 
Professional Societies
 
  • American Society of Missiology
  • Society of Biblical Literature