Prof. Elias Bongmba
Elias Kifon Bongmba has a PhD, DTheo (Lund University) and is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Chair in Christian Theology and Professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Keynote lecture (Wednesday June 14, 11:00-12:30 EEST):
https://aboakademi.zoom.us/j/67771600351?pwd=ZFdVWGZsMVYxSjNvS2tIODJBN3ZNQT09
Meeting ID: 677 7160 0351 Passcode: 811294
The Cameroon Civil War. Where is the Church? What Can the Church Do?
On September 16, the gun men who abducted priest and leaders of the St. Mary Catholic Church in Nchang in the Southwest Region released them. Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo announced to the joy of many faithful that the hostages were released and were in good health. The Bishop thanked the public for their prayers adding, “Words will only do scant justice in expressing my sentiments of gratitude to all those who collaborated with us in the process of negotiating for their safety and release.” The Bishop criticized the capture and holding of people hostages for political reasons and called on the nation to prioritize human dignity because it is inhuman to deprive someone of his or her freedom. In this paper I will discuss the current war in Cameroon to raise questions about the role of religion in the postcolonial state, inquiring about the religious and political climate that nurtures or compels the passivity of the church and suggest ways the church could reclaim its voice.
Prof. Ruth Behar
Ruth Behar is the James W. Fernandez Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Born in Havana, Cuba, she has lived in Spain and Mexico and returns often to Cuba to build bridges around culture and art. She is a MacArthur Fellow, a Carnegie Corporation “Great Immigrant,” and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her acclaimed scholarly books include The Presence of the Past in a Spanish Village, Translated Woman, The Vulnerable Observer, An Island Called Home, and Traveling Heavy. Other works include a bilingual book of poems, Everything I Kept/Todo lo que guardé; a documentary, Adio Kerida; the prize-winning young adult novels, Lucky Broken Girl and Letters from Cuba, and Tía Fortuna’s New Home, a children’s book on Sephardic Cuban heritage.
Keynote lecture (Wednesday June 14, 15:30-17:00 EEST):
https://aboakademi.zoom.us/j/68159015038?pwd=dXpLTjRWMi9iS0dSUnROb3VPaTRjQT09
Meeting ID: 681 5901 5038 Passcode: 050617
Telling the Story of the Sephardim: Between History and Fiction
Sephardic Jews trace their ancestry to Spain and tell the origin story of their identity as stemming from their expulsion in 1492. Though cast out from Spain, they have never forgotten their Spanish ancestry. They maintain and cherish the ancient Spanish from medieval times in a language know as Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, carried through many migrations and continents. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Sephardic culture and musical and religious traditions, both among the Sephardim themselves and among Spaniards and others from outside the community interested in this minority Jewish community. While seeking to maintain memory, there is also a turn toward innovation in how the Sephardim see themselves and are being seen. Reclaiming the routes of Jewish Spain has become widespread and there are online communities where participants communicate only in Ladino. In turn, scholars and creative writers have unearthed new research and imaginings of the Sephardim and their complex history. In this lecture, I will discuss how I’ve come to tell the story of the Sephardim, reflecting on how I’ve drawn on the recent trends as both an anthropologist and a creative writer. I will also show how I now find myself between history and fiction, seeking ways to bring the Sephardic story to young audiences of the next generation.
Prof. Siv Ellen Kraft
Siv Ellen Kraft is Professor of Religious Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Her research has focused on contemporary religion, including New Age, paganism and new spiritualities, and indigenous religion(s), with a particular focus on Sápmi. Recent publications include Indigenous Religion(s) in Sápmi: Reclaiming Sacred Grounds (Routledge 2022), Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks (with B.O. Tafjord, A. Longkumer, G.D. Alles and G. Johnson, Routledge 2020), Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) (co-edited with Greg Johnson, Brill 2017), and New Age in Norway (co-edited with Ingvild Sælid Gilhus and James Lewis, Equinox publishing 2017).
Keynote lecture (Thursday June 15, 13:45-15:15 EEST):
https://aboakademi.zoom.us/j/63398817261?pwd=MkxtenI5MUdBbjhwNlRVbjU5N0pVdz09
Meeting ID: 633 9881 7261 Passcode: 045127
Past matters, present concerns: Cathedralizing nature in Sápmi
“Nature is my cathedral”-claims have been noted in research on enviro-activism, the pilgrim revival and “spiritual but not religious milieus”. I have encountered them regularly in Sápmi on the Norwegian side, particularly in regard to nature-based conflicts. While already suffering the effects of climate change, Sápmi has increasingly been tasked with “green” solutions, many of which disturb reindeer herding practices, and some of which are located to ancestral sacred sites. Corresponding to missionary attacks on the pre-Christian Sámi religion is a new phase of “green colonialism” protesters claim, targeting lifeways and sacred geographies.
Sámi religion has returned since the 1970s, in the format of heritage and religious formations. By cathedralizing I mean to invoke a new phase in processes of reclaiming, connected at least partly to green threats, but also to an eco-spiritual turn in the Nordic countries, to notions of Indigenous peoples as protectors of Mother Earth, and even to legal potential for protecting sacred sites. I approach it as new ways of talking about and relating to pasts in the present, and as shaped by material matters and agencies. What can cathedralizing be, do and enable in this context? How does it relate to eco-spiritual projects elsewhere, among near (Nordic) others and distant (Indigenous) selves?