Public Scholar, Writer, Educator, Artist

Writing as Education & Advocacy 

Rev. Dr. Helen T. Boursier [BOR-see-ay], PhD, is a public theologian, educator, author, activist, ordained Presbyterian minister, and artist who served as a volunteer chaplain on both sides of the US-Mexico border with refugee families seeking asylum (2014-2020). “Pastora Helena” facilitated art as spiritual care with migrant mothers and children for two years (2015 & 2016) while they were detained inside GEO Karnes, what she refers to as “Art Inside Karnes.” She curated a traveling art exhibit, The Power of Hope (2017 to 2020), which showcased the artwork of the families. The Faces of Asylum in-person and virtual art exhibit (March 2023) highlighted her original artwork of the families in the borderlands, with a silent art auction of this work as a fundraiser to support Team Brownsville’s assistance with displaced migrant families.

             Her books include Willful Ignorance: Overcoming the Limitations of (Christian) Love for Refugees Seeking Asylum (Lexington Books, 2022), Art As Witness: A Practical Theology of Arts-Based Research (Lexington Books, 2021), The Ethics of Hospitality: An Interfaith Response to U.S. Immigration Policies (Lexington Books, 2019), and Desperately Seeking Asylum: Testimonies of Trauma, Courage, and Love (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). Precious Precarity: A Spirituality of Borders is forthcoming (May 2024) with Fortress Press. She is the editor and a contributing author for The Rowman and Littlefield Handbook of Women’s Studies in Religion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Dr. Boursier teaches Theology & Religious Studies at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.

·         Willful Ignorance: Overcoming the Limitations of (Christian) Love for Refugees Seeking Asylum (Lexington Books, 2022)

·         Art As Witness: A Practical Theology of Arts-Based Research (Lexington Books, 2021)

·         The Ethics of Hospitality: An Interfaith Response to U.S. Immigration Policies (Lexington Books, 2019)

·         Desperately Seeking Asylum: Testimonies of Trauma, Courage, and Love (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019)

Forthcoming May 2024

Precious Precarity: A Spirituality of Borders  

(Fortress Press)

[Editor] The Rowman and Littlefield Handbook of Women’s Studies in Religion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021)

Rev. Dr. Helen T. Boursier Creatively Engages the Arts-Based Research with Education, Preaching, Public Speaking, Advocacy, and Public Witness for Justice