Professor of Sociology
Director, Center for Justice and Reconciliation

Office Information
Education
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B.A. |
Eastern Nazarene College Majors: Psychology, Religion Honor’s Project: Theoretical Considerations in the Integration of Psychology and Theology |
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M.Div. |
Nazarene Theological Seminary Emphases: Religion, Philosophy, Multi-culturalism Master's Thesis: The Changing Roles for African Women in the Context of the Oscillating Migrant Labour System of Southern Africa
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Ph.D. |
University of Florida Major: Cultural Anthropology Concentration: African History Dissertation: The Structural and Cultural Construction of Race and Ethnic Relations in South Africa’s Handline Fishing Industry: Combining social network analysis and qualitative content analysis to understand contemporary social interaction
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Experience
May 2001-present
Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation
Point Loma Nazarene University
Department of Sociology and Social Work
San Diego, CA
August 1998-May 2001
Research Methods Consultant
ResearchTalk, Inc.
Bohemia, NY
www.researchtalk.com
June-July 1999
Research Assistant
UniversityMid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Cte of the Fishery Impact Management Project
Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers
New Brunswick, NJ
February-August 1996
“Out of Africa” Summer Day Camp Director
Blue Hills Family Life Center
Kansas City, Missouri
October 1995-June 1996
High School Teacher
Hickman Mills Consolidated School District #1 (primarily the Crittenton Center)
Kansas City, Missouri
January-August 1994
Community Resource Educator
July-August 1993
Interim Director
February 1993-August 1994
Resident Manager
Living in New Community (LINC), housing program for homeless families
Kansas City, Missouri
Ordination
Deacon, Church of the Nazarene (June 2006-present)
Administration
Founder and Director, Point Loma Nazarene University’s Center for Justice and Reconciliation (www.pointloma.edu/cjr) (May 2001-present)
Established Professional Speaker series: Brewed Awakening: Serving fair trade coffee, tea and speakers to stir the social conscience (September 2004-present)
Established CJR Resource/Hospitality Center and Office in City Heights, San Diego (Spring/Fall 2004)
Established CJR Community Technology Center in City Heights, San Diego (Fall 2003)
Current University Committee work
Member: Diversity Committee
Member: Resource Stewardship Taskforce
Sponsor of Student Clubs and Organizations
Students for Social Justice Club (September 2001-2009)
Mu Kappa club for missionary kids (September 2002-August 2006)
Curriculum and Program Development
South Africa Study Abroad Seminar (May-June 2005; 2007)
4-week intensive inter-disciplinary insitu study of South Africa
Pre-trip spring semester studying South African history
Urban Term (May-July 2002, 2004, 2006)
8-week summer intensive cross-cultural sociological and theological immersion education curriculum
Africa Care Group (September 2005-present)
Monthly reflection group at Point Loma Nazarene University for people going to or returning from the continent of Africa
Brewed Awakening: Serving Fair Trade Coffee, Tea and Speakers to Stir the Social Conscience (September 2004-present)
Monthly speaker series raising awareness of contemporary social issues with an emphasis on practical tools for social engagement
Patterning of Privilege Diversity Exercise for PLNU’s Psychology 101 Convocation (September 2002-present)
Large group diversity (race, ethnicity and class) awareness stratification exercise
El Otro Lado (Fall 2002)
Cross-Cultural Leadership Training Retreat
Tecate, Mexico
PLNU Racism Forums (2001-2004)
Annual campus forums around contemporary race relations issues
Curriculum in PLNU’s Department of Sociology and Social Work
SOC103 Social Problems
SOC201 Cultural Anthropology
SOC360 Race and Ethnicity
SOC375 African Cultures and Histories
SOC430 Sociology of Religion
SOC490 Globalization and Culture
SOC491 Directed Study: Introduction to Archaeology
SOC491 Directed Study: Critique of Ethnographies
GRE690 African Ecclesial Studies
GRE690 Thesis Preparation
Curriculum for Eastern Nazarene College
Africa section of Non-Western Cultures (January 2006)
Conferences Organized/Facilitated
Lifestyles for a Sustainable World Symposium (March 2004, April 2005, April 2007)
Conference to encourage lives that lead to a more just and sustainable world. City Heights, San Diego. Responsibilities: Co-chair
San Diego Housing Federation’s Annual Affordable Housing Conference (October 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006)
Conference bringing together all players in San Diego’s Affordable Housing industry. Responsibilities: Host, tract organizer, recruitment of speakers
Homelessness RADAR (Research and Data Advisory Roundtable) (December 14, 2005)Consultation to involve community leaders and research academics in improving measurement of who is homeless in San Diego. Responsibilities: Host, Logistics
Water for Children Africa Trade and Business Conference (July 2002, 2003)
Conference to highlight business, church and health care opportunities for San Diegans on the continent of Africa. Responsibilities: Host, co-chair, recruitment of speakers
Leadership in Community Organizations
La Posada Sin Fronteras (Every December, 2002-present)
Public liturgy/drama reenacting the La Posada tradition celebrating hospitality at the San Ysidro border, ½ on each side
Good Friday Walk with the Suffering (Stations of the Cross) (Every Easter, 2002-present)
Member of the Executive Committee of the San Diego Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (2002-present)
Point Loma Nazarene University Representative to the Multi-Congregational Church Board of the Church of the Nazarene in Mid-City (2001-present)
Member of the Steering Committee for the San Diego County Affordable Housing Coalition (2002-2003)
Member of the Steering Committee for the San Diego Caring Council (2001-2003)
Speaking Engagements
Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (ICWJ)
Regular public speaking on behalf of the ICWJ at worker justice rallies, City Council, public press, churches and other public meetings.
Council on American-Islamic Relations Annual Banquet (September 17, 2006)
Keynote: Interfaith Prayer Service for Peace (August 30, 2006)
Eastern Nazarene College Student Chapel (January 11, 2006)
Pacific Lutheran Seminary Border Immersion Program (January 5, 2005)
Labor in the Pulpits Sermon series for ICWJ (Labor Day Sunday)
2007 - Christian Fellowship United Church of Christ
2005 - Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral
2003 - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of San Dieguito
Eastern Nazarene College, DeFrietas Lecture Series speaker (November 10-12, 2004)
PLNU Encuentro (January 2004)
PLNU Project Quickstart (August 2002, 2003)
PLNU Film Forums
Bowling for Columbine, Dear Francis, Long Night’s Journey into Day, Lost Boys of Sudan, Merchants of Cool, Supersize Me, Race: The Power of an Illusion, Traffic, Voices of Iraq (at The Bean Bar Coffee House), White Man’s Burden
Guest panelist on KPBS special: Stories of the Soul: Life after September 11
Aired January 17, 2003. Panelists included Rabbi Laurie Coskey, Director of the San Diego Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; Imam Sharif Battikhi, president of the Inter-Religious Council of San Diego; Chief of Police David Bejarano; and Rosemary Johnson, program director of the Interfaith Shelter Network. Hosted by Art Cribbs.
Professional Associations
Association for Nazarene Sociologists and Researchers (www.nazarene.org/ansr)
2001-present; appointed to Executive Board in 2006
International Network for Social Network Analysis (www.insna.org)
1998-present; Member
American Anthropological Association (www.aaanet.org)
1996-present; Member
Society for Applied Anthropology (www.sfaa.org)
1996-present; Member
Publications and Editorship
Associate Editor, SAFUNDI: The Journal of South African and American Comparative Studies (2003-present)
Social Justice: What is Required of Us? January 2006; Lead article in the Viewpoint, PLNU’s alumni magazine.
“A Grandmother’s Faith in God and Justice” February 2004; In Serving Witness. San Diego Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. CPI Press.
“Wielding Right Power the Right Way” May 2003; Holiness Today. Kansas City: Beacon Press.
“Consumerism: What's Not For Sale?” October 2002; Holiness Today. Kansas City: Beacon Press.
Professional Grants
Alliance Healthcare Foundation 2006; $75,000 grant for improving methodology on measuring who is homeless in San Diego; Lead: Professor Patricia Leslie, Social Work
PLNU Alumni Association Curriculum Development Grant 2003-2004; $2000 for development of South Africa Study Abroad program
Pew Younger Scholars Award 1996-2001; Pew Charitable Trusts; $36,000 + tuition (from U. of Florida)
Professional Conferences and Consulting
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Consultation (September 2006)
Consultant for study abroad programs in South Africa
Conference of Christian College Urban Experiential Education Programs: “Cultivating Renewed Visions: Issues and Challenges” (June 2006) Invited Participant
Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship (March 2006) Collaborative networking sponsored by PLNU’s Center for International Development
Association for Nazarenes in Social Research (March 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006) Participant; Executive Board since 2006
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Consultation (January 2006) Vision casting with the organization’s Executive Director
USA/Canada Nazarene Theology Conference (December 2004) Participant
Leadership Alliance National Diversity Conference (April-May 2003) San Diego Leadership Alliance Paper presentation: Structural and Cultural Constraints to Diversity Education, Co-presented with Nancy Quinones, M.Ed.
Ethics Across the Disciplines Conference (April 2003) D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, Viterbo University Paper presentation: "Diakonia" does not mean "service;" Service and the Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University, Co-authored by John Wright, Ph.D.
Guatemala 2002 – Global Nazarene Theology Conference (April 2002) Paper response: Redefining “Us” and “Them”: Missiology as Embodied Christian Community. A Response to “Christian Mission as Ecclesial Holiness” by Bryan Stone of Boston University
Sunbelt XXII - International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (February 2002) Paper presentation: Where Ego Networks and Whole Networks Intersect: An ethnographic analysis from South Africa
Association for Anthropology in Southern Africa (May 2000) The Challenge for Anthropology in the ‘African Renaissance’ Organized by the University of Namibia’s Department of Sociology Paper presentation: The Structural and Cultural Construction of Race and Ethnic Relations in South Africa’s Handline Fishing Industry: Dissertation Work in Progress
Society for Applied Anthropology 1999 Annual Meeting (April 1999) Paper/multi-media presentation: The Impacts of the Florida Net Ban on Commercial Fishing Families
Entering New Landscapes (Anthropological advances in understanding the peopling of the Americas) (March 1999) Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology, Graduate School and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Jacksonville, FL and on the University of Florida Campus
Fishing Families Conference: The sociology of fishing families (February 1999) Sponsored by the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences Co-presenter, Fishing family responses to the 1995 Florida Net Ban
Explaining Global Human Diversity (February-March 1997) Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology, Graduate School and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on the University of Florida Campus
Research Methods Training
Summer Institute for Research Design in Cultural Anthropology (August 1999) Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Skills: Hypothesis development; hypothesis testing; elementary inferential statistics (using SYSTAT); sampling theory and methods; systematic data collection; research design; survey design and construction; discourse analysis; narrative analysis; text analysis; multivariate analysis; social network analysis (using UCINET)
NUD*IST Qualitative Data Analysis Software Training (June 1998) Sponsored by the Florida Fishing Families Project Skills: Data preparation; coding; text analysis; text searches; inductive and deductive content analysis; Boolean analysis
Tools for Enhancing Community Participation in Field Research (February 1997) Sponsored by the University of Florida's Managing Ecosystems and Resources with Gender Emphasis (MERGE) program Skills: Stakeholder Analysis; participatory interview techniques; gender sensitivity; seasonal calendars; group interviews
Social Network Analysis - UCINET and Krackplot (February 1997) Sponsored by the Sunbelt Social Network Analysis Organization Skills: social network statistical analyses (using UCINET and Krackplot)
Personal Data
Jamie Gates currently serves as associate professor of cultural anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Social Work and as the Director of the university’s Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University. Having been raised in South Africa during the difficult Apartheid years, Jamie continues to study and work towards justice and reconciliation as core theological and social concerns. Jamie and his family recently founded and live in a covenant household with another Christian family, learning to live simply and sharing all goods in common in the spirit of the early Christian communities (Acts 2 and 4). Jamie’s work through the CJR reveals the core of his calling, which is, in the words of the prophet Micah (6.8), to “…act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.” In the words of the CJR’s mission statement, Jamie is called to study poverty and oppression and to teach Christian means of social engagement. We do justice when we “let the oppressed go free, share our food with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into our homes, clothe the naked and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.” (Isaiah 58). Jamie is also committed to interfaith work as part of his Christian call to be “ambassadors of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5.7-18). Jamie is currently working on a book that introduces young adults to these ways of being engaged with passion and wisdom in the world.