This conference brings together activists, spiritual leaders, and academics to explore the intersections of race, environmental activism and spirituality. From the times of slavery through the Civil Rights movement, spirituality has played a critical role in the radical activism of African Americans in the U.S. At the same time, spirituality has remained an understudied component of environmental activism. Through this conference, we intend to explore the role of spirituality among African Americans in environmental activism, and in the process, expand our understanding of environmental activism.
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The conference will begin with an opening reception followed by a panel sessions where academics, activist, and spiritual leaders will explore the core questions of the conference:
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How does spirituality influence African American involvement in environmental activism?
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What specific spiritual expressions do we see in African American environmentalism?
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How do African Americans spiritual engagement with the environment helps us to expand our definition of spirituality more broadly?
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How does an engagement with spirituality expand our understanding of what activism is?
The panel session will be open to the public. The second day of the conference will build on the themes introduced in the opening panel. It will be devoted to idea sharing, paper presenting, and collaborative learning. Conference participants will workshop papers or sermons prepared in advance. We will also have plenty opportunities for people to share best practices and vision for the future. The conference will conclude with a vision session for the future where both academic goals and community based goals will be discussed. The conference is organized around regional clusters to help to facilitate work beyond the conference.
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This work is supported by an International Workshop Award from the Antipode Foundation.