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CO-SPONSORED SESSION: African Diaspora Religions Unit, Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit, Religion and Ecology Unit, and Space, Place, and Religion Unit
Call for Proposals for November Meeting
Sustaining Environmental Change-I
This panel asks: in the face of disaster, firestorms, floods, turbulent weather systems, and globalized systems of environmental racism, how do we make sense of climate change, survival of ourselves and the planet, and environmental justice concerning African/Diaspora cosmology and cultural and spiritual beliefs and ceremonial practices? Environmental Activist Wangari Maathai in her 2004 Nobel Prize Acceptance Lecture in Oslo states: “Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking so that humanity stops threatening its life support system… We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wombs and, in the process, heal our own. Indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder.” The Yoruba concept of Àṣẹ champions the power of rocks, trees, wind, thunder, waterfalls, and lightning as things, as cipher or orixá constitute the indigenous ecologies that support our lives and culture. Currently, the earth is in an apparent radical transition, resisting and responding to human impact in a myriad of tumultuous ways. Maathai points to Yoruba indigenous culture’s cosmological care for the ecology, which, like many indigenous communities, was disrupted through development projects and colonial encounters. Yet, it is clear that, if we do not collectively alter our ways of being by supporting the futurity of ecology and sustainability in the continuation of human and planetary existence, we will evidence greater loss of life, our planetary home, and culture.
Sponsors
Chairs
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Scott Barton, University of Notre Dame1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Kimberly Carfore, University of San Francisco1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Yuria Celidwen, University of California, Berkeley1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Katie Oxx, Saint Joseph's University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Brooke Schedneck, Rhodes College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Seth Schermerhorn, Hamilton College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Carol Marie Webster, Independent Scholar1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Joseph Wiebe, University of Alberta, Augustana1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
Steering Committee Members
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Andrea Allen, University of Toronto1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Gregory D. Alles, McDaniel College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Courtney Bruntz, Southeast Community College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Christopher Carter, University of San Diego1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Mary Churchill, Sonoma State University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Nixon Cleophat, Bloomfield College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Ashley Coleman Taylor, University of Texas1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Meredith Coleman-Tobias, Mount Holyoke College1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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KB Dennis Meade, Northwestern University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Renan Dos Santos, University of São Paulo1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Timothy Eberhart, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Isaiah Ellis, University of Toronto1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Gabriel Estrada, California State University, Long Beach1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Timothy Harvie, St. Mary's University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Malene Minor Johnson, Case Western Reserve University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Samuel Kigar, University of Puget Sound1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Dana Lloyd, Villanova University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Kendall Marchman, University of Georgia1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Matthew Mitchell, High Point University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Ayodeji Ogunnaike, University of Virginia1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Joy Palacios, University of Calgary1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Terra Schwerin Rowe, University of North Texas1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Eglute Trinkauskaite, Maryland Institute College of Art1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Meaghan Weatherdon, University of Toronto1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029
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Christiana Zenner, Fordham University1/1/2024 - 12/31/2029