CO-SPONSORED SESSION: Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit

African and Indigenous Women Centering Peace from the Margins

Sponsored in cooperation with the Women’s Caucus

African and Indigenous women, in their varied life experiences, continue to tactfully navigate violence in its multilayered form. They have not only fought from their peripheries but also continue to advocate for nonviolence. Naming these forms of violence embedded structurally and systematically in cultures and religions characterizes the quest of African and Indigenous women be they feminists, theologians, religious or lay. Intersectional approaches and methodologies have been utilized to tease out peaceful and nonviolent strategies that counter multi-varied forms and ills of violence affecting women on the "margins.” Distinct strategies unearthed continue to fuel and sustain women's zeal for peace and nonviolence amongst all-Earth communities.

The purpose of the biographies panel is to raise the visibility of scholars, leaders and activists on the margins of imperial and kyriarchal institutions and decenter these institutions with knowledge models that face the challenges of today’s world. To this end, the panel invites proposals on distinct African and Indigenous women’s (seers, prophetesses, theologians, and other categories) strategies of naming, navigating, and advocating for peace and nonviolence amongst all-Earth communities. Proposals on this theme might consider the following areas: Freedom fighters, Environmental Justice, Reproductive Bodily Autonomy, Women Ordination and leadership, Inclusive sexual identities, Philosophical epistemologies, Education and Scientific interventions, Animal health, among others.