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Virtual Conference: Religion and Democracy on the African Continent: Colonial Legacies and Postcolonial Possibilities “A broad rethinking of political issues becomes possible when Western ideals and practices are examined from the vantage point of Africa.”—Pankaj Mishra, New York Review of Books Join us Saturday, May 7–Sunday, May 8, for a virtual conference, featuring scholars of Africana Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology, History, Sociology, Law, and Politics, who will share their expertise on religion and democracy on the African continent. The event will feature a keynote address by Mahmood Mamdani, the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University and author of the book, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, (Harvard University Press, 2020). The conference presentations will result in the publication of an edited volume to be made freely available next year.  Registration The conference will be hosted on Zoom; attendees must register separately for each session. Click on the linked session titles below to register and to learn more about the sessions and speakers. All sessions will be recorded and made available on the Religion, Race & Democracy Lab’s Vimeo channel. Schedule of Events Saturday, May 7: Looking Back 9–11 AM EST Historical Formations of Religion and Democracy   11:30 AM–1:30 PM EST African Religious Movements & Democracies   2–4 PM EST Keynote Lecture: Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities    Sunday, May 8: Looking Forward 10 am–12 PM EST Contemporary Conflicts, the State, and Religion in Africa   1–4 pm EST New Theories and the Future of Religion and Democracy in Africa (followed by Closing Remarks)   Co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Democracy Initiative's Religion, Race & Democracy Lab, the Page-Barbour Funds, the Institute of the Humanities & Global Culture, the Carter G. Woodson Institute, and the Virginia Center for the Study of Religion.