African Religions Unit
Our Unit encourages critical inquiry about religions originating and/or practiced in Africa. Proposals should go beyond description; they should critically engage the conceptual tools and methods employed in analysis. The steering committee will evaluate the merit of each proposal based on the clarity of its thesis, the strength of the evidence referenced, and the quality of the conclusions drawn from it in terms of both style and substance. For the 2025 Annual Meeting, we particularly invite papers as well as panel proposals that respond to the following themes relevant to any region of the African continent and its diverse religious cultures:
Religion, indigenous languages, and the arts
In recent years, scholars of African religions have become increasingly aware of the important role indigenous languages play in both the practice and study of these traditions. In particular, the use of oral performances in the overlapping forms of praise poetry, sacred narratives and epics, and prayers are deeply embedded in both religious practice and the arts broadly defined. Just as scholars of Western art and Christianity must be attentive to the particularities of Latin, Italian, Greek, or Hebrew, this panel solicits papers that analyze and address the critical role African languages play in uniting African religions and art forms in mutually supporting and dynamic ways. Papers addressing all African languages, religious traditions, and art forms (including Arabic and Islam, diasporic African languages such as Haitian Langaj, various spirit languages, and even European languages that have been integrated into indigenous frameworks and rituals) are welcome. The panel also welcomes proposals engaging all art forms (such as dance, clothing, woodcarving, etc.) that have significant links to language and religion but are not performed orally in a narrow sense of the term, as well as reflections on how the use of language affects the interpretation and understanding of African religious and artistic traditions.
Religious ‘Freedom’ in the Age of AI
The influence and impact of the internet, AI, and social media on public religious participation and performances of religion manifest in various ways. Traditionally, African religions favored face-to-face interaction and in-person participation in ritual and devotional practice. Today, the public sphere has expanded into digital spaces, creating new opportunities for gender inclusivity, greater freedom of religious participation, and innovation in ritual performance and practice. With the rapid spread of information and awareness through digitization, religious devotion and ritual practice are significantly enriched and made more accessible for better or worse. From online divination to social media initiations and even phone consultations, these expanding spaces provide a foundation for new inquiries into what religious freedom might symbolize in the contemporary age while decentering how power dynamics, demographic differences, gender, and sexuality operate within religious communities. The African Religions Unit invites proposals examining how digital spaces have shifted and transformed religious devotion and practice, highlighting the role of digital tools such as AI, machine learning, social media, and others in enhancing religious participation within indigenous African religions, including Islam and Christianity.
Religious Nationalism(s) in Africa
Recent decades have seen the rise of religious nationalism(s) around the world – from Hindu nationalism in India to Christian nationalism in Europe and the United States. In Africa, Christian nationalist discourses have occurred not only in countries like Zambia, which was declared a Christian nation, but also in many other African countries where Christians have a significant voice in politics and society. It is even manifested in cases where ethnonationalist groups draw from religious repertoire to fight for independence in countries like South Sudan and Cameroon. African religious nationalist discourses, however, transcend the continent to include other regions of the world. This is manifested in Africans’ support for projects such as the Islamic State, Christian Zionism, and the positions of the recently elected president of the United States, Donald Trump. This panel seeks papers that critically engage and theorize the current prevalence of religious nationalist discourses in Africa. What do they tell us about how to study African religions today? How do these discourses shape life in Africa? How do they place Africa in the world? What could be the unconscious or subtext of these religious nationalist discourses?
Indigenous Hermeneutics: Intellectual Sovereignty, Decolonization of African Traditional Religions in the Work of Professor Jacob K. Olupona
As one of the most prominent figures in the history of the field of African religions, Professor Jacob K. Olupona has made numerous significant contributions, perhaps none more transformational than his concept of “indigenous hermeneutics” which extends far beyond the study of religion in Africa. Olupona defines indigenous hermeneutics as “exploring paradigms and modes of interpretation that are explicitly embedded in the traditions we study. Because these traditions are interpretive, our understanding of them should take into consideration how they provide meaning to those who encounter them” as a way to address common, but “serious problems, including mistranslation and distortions of meaning.” Having not only structured his research and publication around this important theoretical intervention, Olupona has also made it central to how he has mentored and trained a large number of scholars in the field. This panel/roundtable seeks/is composed of papers that address and highlight the critical role indigenous hermeneutics is playing in the growing field of African religions, how it can and should influence the field going forward, what it has to offer religious studies in general and other fields and disciplines besides. The panel/roundtable will conclude with Prof. Olupona offering his experiences with indigenous hermeneutics and his hopes for this methodology with the next generation of Africanists and religious studies scholars.
The central aim of the African Religions Unit is to address and fulfill the Mission Statement of the American Academy of Religion with particular reference to the African continent as a vital part of our globalized, post-colonial world. The African Religions Unit aims to provide a forum within the American Academy of Religion for the discussion of research on the multiplicity of religious traditions in Africa, methodological issues in the study of the religions of Africa, and African religious responses to ethical and social issues affecting the continent. The Unit encourages the participation of African and non-African scholars in the leadership of the Unit and in participation in its programs. It further actively seeks collaboration with other Units in the AAR, as well as with the African Association for the Study of Religions, in order to promote the study and understanding of religions in Africa in the wider academy. The members of the African Religions Unit come to the subject from a variety of schools of thought and methodological approaches, including but not limited to anthropology, history, history of religions, literary studies, sociology, and theology. The three major religious traditions under investigation are indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam, and the Group’s leadership strives to create some balance in the attention paid to these three major traditions.
Chair | Dates | ||
---|---|---|---|
David Ngong | dngong@stillman.edu | - | View |
Georgette Ledgister, Harvard University | georgette.ledgister… | - | View |