The inaugural Annual conference on Philosophical Theologies & Philosophy of Religion in Africana Traditions
October 24 & 25, 2014
Friday October 24, 2014, 9:00 AM – 9:00PM
Elebash Recital Hall
Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10016
Saturday October 25, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
The Commons
388 Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn New York 11217
Please Download the Event Program Here
The initial conference will explore various philosophical expressions of ultimate reality within Africana traditions. Considerations will be given to theistic and non –theistic orientations, religious movements that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, syncretism of older traditions (Vodun, Santeria, etc), cosmic religions, atheologies and religion and science.
Broad premise: Religions are personal and cultural guidance systems. These systems of thought and expressions have personal, social, political, and economic consequences which can be subjected to sophisticated casual analysis. Papers will analyze the obvious and underlying assumptions, actual practices, conceptual formulations, and where applicable eschatological expectations related to the worldviews under consideration.
A broad spectrum of religious and philosophical world views are being practiced by African descendant people in the Americas that affect all areas of their lives. This conference will examine how place and time influence personal, communal, institutional and national philosophical and religious identities and what and are some of their social, economical, and political manifestations. Consideration will also be given to civil religions and how they are operational in everyday life.
Please direct any inquiries to J. Everet Green at everet@verizon.net.
The conference is free and open to the public.
PROGRAM
Friday October 24, 2014
9:00 am—9:00 pm
MORNING SESSION 9:15—12:30
9:20 am—9:45 am: Greetings and Opening Statement
J. Everet Green (Mercy College)
Mary Taylor (CUNY Graduate Center)
10:00 am—11:00 am: Four Types of Soteriology
Speaker: David E. McClean (Molloy College & Rutgers University)
Chair: Sara Mokuria
11:10 am—12:15 pm
William R. Jones and Philosophical Theology: Transgressing and Transforming Conventional Boundaries of Black Liberation Theology
Speaker: Brittany O’Neal (Michigan State University)
Chair: Aileen Mokuria
LUNCH 12:15—1:20
AFTERNOON SESSION 1:30—5:00 pm
1:40—2:50 pm
Greetings and Introduction
J. Everet Green
With What Alexander Crummell’s Conception of Black Nationalism Begins and Ends?
Speaker: Frank M. Kirkland (Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center)
3:00 pm—4:20 pm
What’s Wrong With Philosophy?: Confession of a Non-Africana Thinker
Speaker: Enid Bloch (Independent Scholar)
Chair: Julie Siestreen
4:30 pm
Memorial Minutes for Leo Downs (Lifelong member of the Society for the Study of Africana Philosophy)
BREAK 4:40—5:00 pm Break
5:10—6:40 pm
Geographies of Denial: Vodou Doesn’t Believe in God
Speaker: Manbo Asogwe Dowoti Desir
Chair: Sara Mokuria
7:00—8:30 pm
Recital The Blue Line Project
Performing: “EXALTATION”: A multi media performance
Featuring:
Kerry Malone Brown (Band leader, saxophone and flute)
Joe Tranchina (piano)
Doug Richardson (drums)
Eric Lemons (bass)
Special appearance by Al Mosley (trumpet)
And DJ ACE
PROGRAM
THE COMMONS
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, New York
Saturday October 25, 2014
9:00—5:00 pm
9:00—9:20 am
Welcome
9:25—10:30
Sin Has Many Tools But A Lie Is the Handle That Fits Them All
Speaker: Richard F. Ford, Sr. (Independent Scholar)
Chair: Aileen Mokuria
10:40—12 noon
J. Leonard Farmer on the Mysteries of the Second Isaiah
Speaker: Greg Moses (Texas State University)
Chair: Silvia Federici
LUNCH 12:00—1:30
1:30—2:30
Muslim Women Engaging With Islamic and Western Knowledge Systems in the Sahel
Speaker: Ousseina Alidou (Rutgers University)
Chair: Kimberly Ann Harris (Pennsylvania State University)
2:35—3:35
Is Christianity a Major Contributing Factor to Black Oppression?
Speaker: Zay D. Green
Chair: Kimberly Ann Harris
3:35—4:40 pm
Discussion: Philosophy and Religion in Africana Traditions
Yusuf Nuruddin (University of Massachusetts Boston), Manbo Asogwe Dowoti Desir, David McClean, Ousseina Alidou
Chair: George Caffentzis
Closing Remarks
The capacity of the recital hall is 189, and no registration is required for the event.
This conference is sponsored by the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center
Special thanks to Mary Taylor at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics for working assiduously behind the scene to make this event possible and to Manbo Asogwe Dowoti in assisting with the design of the announcement and the program.
This one’s right up my alley, except that it’s just TOO LONG!!! High hopes for joining next year’s conference!