African Initiatives
Boston University hosts the second oldest African Studies Center in the United States, and is recognized by the federal government for its excellence in the study of African languages and cultures. The School of Theology is a vital component of African Studies at Boston University, beginning with the sending of graduates to Africa as missionaries over a century ago. Important African alumni include Bishop Josiah Kibira (1964 graduate), the first African head of the Lutheran World Federation; Dr. Kenaleone Ketshabile, Head of the Mission Desk, Methodist Church of Southern Africa; Yusufu Turaki, Professor and former General Secretary of the Evangelical Church of West Africa; and Professor Emmanuel Anyambod, Rector of the Protestant University of Central Africa.
Africa research in the CGCM grows from the work of retired Professor M.L. “Inus” Daneel. His over forty-year presence among African Initiated Churches in Zimbabwe culminated in the 1990s with the largest tree-planting movement in southern Africa, and a program in Theological Education by Extension. The son of missionary parents, Daneel served as a missionary of the Dutch Mission Councils, and then as professor of African theology and missiology at the University of South Africa. He and Professor Robert co-edit the African Initiatives in Christian Mission Series, published by the University of South Africa Press. The goal of the series is to reflect upon contemporary African Christianity, and to document its expansion. Other Africa projects include the digitization of Daneel’s photography and publications on the multimedia site Old & New In Shona Religion, and ongoing research into southern African traditions of earth-care.
See also the Dictionary of African Christian Biography (DACB) listed under Digital Projects.
Dr. Marthinus Daneel, Africa Research Director
Jean Luc Enyegue (’18) has published a new book – “Competing Catholicisms”
Alumnus Jean Luc Enyegue ('18) has published a new book - Competing Catholicisms: The Jesuits, the Vatican and the Making of Postcolonial French Africa. Dr. Enyegue is the director of The Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa. His recent interview on the book can be read here.
African Association for the Study of Religions 2022 Virtual Conference
The African Association for the Study of Religions is thrilled to be gathering online this summer to hear extraordinary papers, keynotes, and celebrate the Association turning 30 years old! The virtual conference will take place June 26-27, 2022.
While the topics covered are heavily influenced by COVID-19, there will be a wide variety of addresses that will also explore the environment in crisis, constitutional crises, trauma in literature and film, gender, etc. You are warmly invited to join in on this joyous event.
To register, please click here.
To view the schedule, please click here.
Please note that there is no registration fee. However, your registration will not be approved unless you have paid this year’s AASR Membership fees. To pay membership fees, please visit www.a-asr.org and choose "Join Us."
If you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance along the way, please email the General Secretary, Nathanael Homewood, at njh2@rice.edu.
Call for Papers from The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (The Circle)
Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (The Circle), U.S Chapter
Circle and Womanist Theologians Sankofa Research Project
Co-editors: Ericka Shawndricka Dunbar, Ph.D., and Yoknyam Dabale, Ph.D. Candidate
Introduction: Musa W. Dube, Ph.D.
The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians was founded in Ghana, West Africa in 1989 with the purpose of amplifying Pan-African and inter-religious theological perspectives of African women. As a means of embodying Sankofa, our next conference in 2024 will be a pilgrimage back to Ghana. In preparation for our return, we are engaged in several research projects that analyze and expand the work of the Circle theological matriarchs, that is, the founders and the earliest champions of the Circle. The Circle has always included sisters both on the continent and in the Diaspora. This call is an expansion of projects already underway that center on the US founding matriarchs, as we endeavor to go back and retrieve their insights and contributions to create more equitable and just futures for African(a) women specifically, and African(a) peoples more generally. Additionally, this is a broader call for exploring other thematic aspects of the Circle, diasporic identities, and womanist theologies.
We invite papers that reflect not only on the crises that have marked African(a) women’s lives in the diaspora but also on future possibilities and collaborations. These opportune two special-volume issues aim to include papers that capture African(a) women’s reviews of and resistance to gender and ethnic-based oppression and violence across various continents; and resilience in the face of and revision of ideologies, attitudes, and theologies that undergird such practices. The scope of this issue is intended to be broad and inclusive of diverse methodologies, theories, and approaches. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Archival and scholarly research looking at the scholarship, contributions, and legacies of US Circle Sisters. How have their lives, work, and impact contributed to building communities of resistance, resilience, and revision across various contexts?
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Exploration of the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, places/space, identity, and what we pass on to our future generations.
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Exploration of what it means to belong in diasporic places/spaces and resources for navigating those (physical, social, religious, geopolitical) landscapes.
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Assessment of liberation theologies formed in the context of African(a) culture and religion.
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Analyses of social issues such as gender and ethnic constructions and hierarchies, poverty, marginalization, sexualized violence, language, etc.
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Examination of prejudices and biases, freedom/liberation, and research that examines African(a) women’s personal, professional, public, and political representation emphasizing existing cultural norms/biases, questioning societal prejudices, inequities toward women, and resistance to those practices.
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Investigation of cultural influences on womanist perceptions/perspectives and theologies.
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Circle Members’/Womanists’ transnational and global activism and resistance in all forms.
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Africana Womanists subjectivities and experiences in Academia.
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Intersections of Womanist Theologies and Afro-futurism.
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Exploration of immigrant women and religious identity in the diaspora.
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Analyses of African (a) motherhood, health, marginalization, and belonging in Eurocentric spaces looking at it through the religious lens.
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Reflection on ways in which mainstream Eurocentric feminist theological discourse on gender influence African(a) discourse on womanhood.
Timeline: Please submit a 200-300 word abstract by April 21, 2022
Please send all submissions and any questions to: thecircleuschapter@gmail.com
Decisions on publication will be made on: May 15, 2022
The deadline to complete papers is: September 15, 2022
The volumes are peer-reviewed and will be published by The Journal of Black Women and Religious Cultures
BWRC Formatting Guidelines:
Generally, manuscript lengths are 24 to 32 double-spaced pages, approximately 6,500 to 10,000 words (excluding the abstract, notes, and bibliography). Essays must include an abstract of not more than 200 words.
Manuscripts must be double-spaced, left-justified, using 12-point Times New Roman type, and submitted as Microsoft Word .docX files.
Required writing style: Full Chicago humanities citations as endnotes only
All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review. To facilitate anonymous peer review, author names should be indicated on a separate cover page but NOT be included on any other page within the submission. The cover page should include the title of the submission, the author’s (s’) name(s), email address, and institutional affiliation(s).
Highlights from CGCM Faculty Associate Prof. John Thornton
The Center for Global Christianity and Mission celebrates the diverse and valuable contributions of our Faculty Associates.
Dr. John Thornton, CGCM faculty associate, offers the following report on his recent work:
"I wrote quite a bit last year, and some of it was published, the rest is more or less waiting. Probably the biggest work was on my biography of Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga, King of Kongo. I have a contract to publish a biography of Afonso, as well as English translations of his letters and a few allied documents. He wrote a bit over 20 letters between 1506 and 1542. You might remember the bio of him I wrote for the Dictionary of Christian Biography.
"I finished an intermediate draft, and the publisher is now sending it around to readers to assess its potentials as a textbook. This is not a review for publication, that peer review is done. Rather it is a sort of copy-editing exercise to improve style and presentation. We hope the book will be out in 2022.
"As far as global Christianity is concerned, I also gave a recorded public lecture on how Kongolese Christianity intersected with other African religions to create Vodou in Haiti. This was presented on April 29th as a part of Harvard's ongoing lecture series, and is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arANJmBdy5s The title of the lecture is very misleading, it was a preliminary title that never got changed.
"I gave a talk in Portuguese, an interview with a Brazilian academic named Fabio Ferreira, on the history of Kongo which did deal with religious topics, this was on May 25th. It is also on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALPHLok-E74
"I was also part of a conference at the Kongo Academy, a new organization that does a lot of work on Kimbanguism. They invited me to talk about the eighteenth-century prophet D. Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the 'Kongolese Saint Anthony' as a precursor to Kimbangu.
"I also wrote several other pieces, but they were not on topics dealing with religion or global Christianity, for example, a revision of my earlier estimates of the population of Kongo (published in the Journal of African History) and an article on the expansion of the Lunda empire, which I think is a chapter in a book that might already be published."
Soga Studies Conference at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study – March 24-26
The Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and the Tiyo Soga Community Museum, Mgwali, is excited to announce the Soga Studies Conference to be held both in-person and virtually at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study from March 24-26, 2022.
Studies on the work, theology, philosophies, and dynasty of the Reverend Tiyo ‘Zisani’ Soga have recently gained prominence in numerous disciplines and facets of life, with local and international relevance. Theorists, artists, and family members all over the world are engaged in several exciting aspects of Soga scholarship. Sikhumbuzo Makandula of Rhodes University and Joanne Ruth Davis of JIAS have conceived of this conference as a means to enable dialogue and new avenues for continued Soga scholarship. We believe it will be of great benefit to all of the many stakeholders who are invested in this work.
Kindly RSVP on https://forms.gle/f1Rd4yrfP928QjFy7 to receive further details.
For more information, view the working program or visit the event website.