CO-SPONSORSHIP: African Diaspora Religions Unit, Afro-American Religious History Unit, Comparative Approaches to Religion and Violence Unit, and Religions, Medicines, and Healing Unit

"Freedom By Another Name: Medicine & Healing in the Era of Slavery," 

This panel is open to a variety of submissions, including analyses of the use of plant medicines, prayers, divination, laying of hands, ritual baths, and sacred ceremonies used for healing purposes among African descendants in the era of slavery. We welcome studies of slavery in Africa and/or the African Diaspora. We also invite proposals that examine how Western medicine was weaponized as an extension of colonial power to further control Black people and keep their bodies in bondage. We are especially interested in proposals that address how enslaved people experienced harrowing conditions of enslavement, faced immense challenges of illness and physical suffering, but also sought freedom and empowerment through the sustained practice of African traditional healing rites.