04 Feb CFP: ADRSA 2021 Praising and Raising the Dead
CALL FOR PAPERS | For Immediate Release
Praising and Raising the Dead” Life, Death, and Rebirth in Africana Religions
Friday, April 23, 2021 | 9 am – 6 pm EST | ONLINE
Opening Plenary Address by Dr. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
Keynote Address by Queen Mother Manbo Dowoti Desir
Featured Artist, Vladimir Cybil Charlier
The African and Diasporic Religious Studies Association (ADRSA) is proud to present its ninth conference on the theme Praising and Raising the Dead: Life, Death, and Rebirth in Africana Religions. The conference will be held online on Friday, April 23 with online events from April 22-25. Event sponsors include the Congrss of Santa Barbara (KOSANBA), the Center for African and African American Studies at SUNO, and Ase Ire Communiversity, who will host the conference.
Africana religions center and affirm life, encouraging practitioners to live well while on earth and seek solutions to everyday challenges. At the same time, they recognize that human beings come to earth but for a short time and that all eventually return to the spiritual realm—sometimes for good, often returning in the body of a descendent or other living entity to learn more soul lessons. This conference will explore concepts of life, death, and rebirth in Africana religions with attention to how we conceptualize, cope with, and celebrate these interconnected realities. We invite proposals on topics including but not limited to:
- Meanings of life, death, and rebirth via reincarnation or other means
- Concepts of the spiritual realm, post-mortem, and pre-natal realms and activity
- Mortuary practices and ancestral rites, especially in times of natural disasters and the current pandemic
- Theories of memory and memorialization
- Studies of deities associated with death
Submissions must center one or more African Indigenous (Akan, Ndebele, Yorùbá, Kongo, Fon, Dagara, Eedyi, Igbo, Shona, etc.) or African Diasporic (Vodou, Lukumí, Revival Zion, Candomblé, Kumina, Ifá/Ifá-Orisa, Shango Baptist, etc.) spiritual or religious tradition. Scholar-practitioner perspectives are especially welcomed. Graduate students and junior scholars are encouraged to apply.
For consideration, please submit an abstract, bio, and CV by Friday, March 5 by following the link below.
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