#  Conference | Indigeneity, Religion, and Remaking the Public Sphere 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **December 5, 2019** 

 09:00AM - 05:30PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **GSAS Student Center, Lehman Hall, Room 201**  



 

 



 

##  Program

 *Presented by the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Religion and Public Life in Africa and the African Diaspora.*

 **December 5-6, 2019**

 **Location**  
The GSAS Student Center  
Lehman Hall, Room 201  
Harvard Yard  
Harvard University  
Cambridge, MA 02138

##  Thursday, December 5, 2019

###  9:00–9:15 | Opening Remarks

- **Todne Thomas**, *Co-chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Religion in Public Life in Africa and the African Diaspora; Assistant Professor of African American Religions, Harvard Divinity School. Suzanne Young Murray Assistant Professor, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.*

###  9:15–10:00 | Indigeneity, Religion and Remaking the Public Sphere: Framing the Discourse

- **Jacob Olupona**, *Co-chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Religion in Public Life in Africa and the African Diaspora; Professor of African Religious Traditions, Harvard Divinity School; Professor of African and African American Studies, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University.*

###  10:00–12:00 | Session I: Indigenous Knowledge and Epistemological Resilience

- Moderator: **Christina Davidson**, *Postdoctoral Fellow, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University.*
- “Religion on Display: Indigenous Religion in the Ghanaian Public Sphere”  
    **David Amponsah**, *Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania.*
- "Knowing the Gods in Public: Akan Religion and the Question of Sociopolitical Relevance”  
    **Marcus Harvey**, *Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Asheville.*
- “A Reading of the Upsurge of Berber Indigenous Traditions in Today’s Public Life in Morocco**”**  
    **Fatima Sadiqi**, *Senior Professor of Linguistics and Gender Studies, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco.*
- “The (Indigenous) Priest and the Prophetess: Ritual Healing Arts and Mental Illness in DRC”  
    **Kyrah Malika Daniels**, *Assistant Professor, Departments of Art History and of African and African Diaspora Studies, Boston College.*

###  12:00–2:00 | Break *(speakers lunch provided)*

###  2:00–3:30 | Session II: Global Expansion and Transnational Spaces

- Moderator: **Margaret Lombe**, *Associate Professor, School of Social Work and Assistant Dean, Doctoral Program, Boston College.*
- “The Osun Phenomenon: African Goddesses at Work in 2019 Black America”  
    **Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies**, *Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Black Studies Research, the University of California, Santa Barbara.*
- “Public Candomblé Revisited”  
    **Stephen Selka**, *Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University.*
- “Summons, the Priestess: Divinity, Co-Creation, and Vision in Global Africa”  
    **Lauren Coyle-Rosen**, *Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University.*

###  3:30–4:00 | Coffee Break *(provided)*

###  4:00–5:30 | Session III: Identity, Citizenship and Political Performance of Indigeneity

- Moderator: **Martine Jean**, *2019–2020 Mark Claster Mamolen Fellow, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University.*
- “When the Ancestors Wage War: Mystico-Political Movements and the Ethics of War in Congo”  
    **Georgette I. Mulunda Ledgister**, *Executive Director, Fearless D!alogues. Visiting Faculty, Religious Studies, Agnes Scott College.*
- “Mysterious Morality: Statecraft and Ritualist Interventions in Kenyan Electoral Seasons”  
    **Sheila A. Otieno**, *PhD Candidate in Social Ethics, Boston University.*
- “Yoruba Tradition and Public Life”  
    **Ayodeji Ogunnaike**, *Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Bowdoin College.*

###  6:00 | Speakers Dinner, Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street.

##  Friday, December 6, 2019

###  9:00–11:30 | Session IV: Contestation, Rule of Law, the State and Indigenous Tradition

- Moderator: **Bojana Coulibaly**, *College Fellow, African and African American Studies.*
- “Vodun in Community and Conflict”  
    **Venise Adjibodou**, *English Teacher, The Rivers School.*
- “Culture, Creed or ‘Cult’: Africana Religions and the Struggle for Legal Recognition in the 21st Century”  
    **Danielle N. Boaz**, *Assistant Professor, Department of Africana Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.*
- “Charity Begins at Home: Western Democracy and the Perpetuation of Moral Decay in Africa”  
    **Nokuzola Mndende**, *Director of Icamagu Heritage Institute; Deputy Chairperson for the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims; National Chairperson on the Council of African Religion.*

###  11:30–12:30 | Brainstorming/Reflecting on the way forward

###  12:30–2:00 | Lunch *(provided)*



 

 

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 Attachments- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Download the Agenda ](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/wcfia/files/wrcafrica-nov2019conference-agenda.pdf)
 
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 See also:- [ 2019-2020 ](/academic-year/2019-2020)
- [ Weatherhead Research Cluster on Religion in Public Life in Africa and the African Diaspora ](/event-categories/weatherhead-research-cluster-religion-public-life-africa-and-african-diaspora)
- [ Special Event ](/event-categories/special-event)
 
 

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