CO-SPONSORED SESSION: African Religions Unit and Women and Religion Unit

Solidarity and Rituals of Grieving 

As the ramifications of the global pandemic continue to unfold, the toll of the pandemic on bodies and practices of presence and absence grow ever more pronounced. Namely, how are indigenous religions finding avenues to reclaim ritual spaces that rearticulate solidarity within novel constraints on physical presence? The importance of mourning in moments where gathering and collective ritual action are challenging, if not impossible, are coupled with the renegotiation and shifting of gender roles in providing care and accompaniment. The African Religions Unit welcomes proposals addressing how indigenous religions are shifting to adapt, accommodate, or retain practices of grieving. As women often occupy a unique position in indigenous cosmologies, at times embodying the link between this world and others, proposals that articulate the specific positions and powers of women in indigenous cosmologies and how they shape ritual processes are particularly welcome. Possible papers for this panel could engage ideas around grief, funerary rites, comprehensions of death and mourning, and ways in which communities are reconceiving of solidarity and community in light of the pandemic.