Africa

"Death as a palpable force looms large in the Yoruba religious and social consciousness. From cosmology to various ritual practices and genres of oral traditions such as proverbs, poetry and short stories are all brought to bear on the reality of death...

"At various stages of a stellar career as a scholar of the highest distinction, Professor Olupona has marshaled his energy to build bridges so that those coming behind him can have a more secure pathway as they march forward," writes Amherst College...

Professor Jacob Olupona recently gave the Graduate Theological Union's Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture.

In late January 2020, Nigerians reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that Nigeria would be added to the administration's controversial visa and travel bans list. In a statement, the Association for Credible Leadership in Nigeria (ACLN)...

On February 27, Afe Adogame, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Religion and Society at Princeton Theological seminary and leading scholar of the African diaspora, delivered the Hackett Lecture in Global Christianity. This lecture examined how and to what...

Scholarship on globalization of Islamic Africa has been focused either on merely describing (if not romanticizing) African Muslims’ experiences abroad, on one hand, or on exploring how Muslim societies in Africa are affected by global Islamic trends, on...

Professor Francis X. Clooney, S.J., reflects on his first trip to Africa, where he lectured on comparative theology and interreligious learning.

"John Samuel Mbiti will be remembered as a preeminent African scholar whose endeavors are unparalleled in the academy and worthy of the highest regard. The world is truly poorer with him gone," writes HDS Professor Jacob Olupona.

Damaris S. Parsitau, 2018-19 WSRP Visiting Associate Professor, delivers the lecture “The Kingdom of Holy Women: Pentecostalism, Sex and Women’s Bodies in an African Church,” which is based on five years of ethnographic research carried out at the...

Damaris S. Parsitau, Women's Studies in Religion Program 2018-19 Research Associate, delivered the following remarks at Morning Prayers in Harvard's Memorial Church on February 12, 2019.