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Birks Annual Lecture Series

When the Earth Strikes Back: Indigenous Knowledge, Climate Crisis, and Sustainability

Guest Speaker: Prof Jacob Olupona

About the Speaker:

Prof. Jacob K. Olupona is the Hugh K Foster Professor of African and African American Studies and Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS) at Harvard University. He is the world鈥檚 leading scholar in the field of African religion and holds a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School. He spent several years as the director of graduate study for AAAS and has directly taught or mentored most scholars of religion in Africa鈥攊ncluding Prof. Ayodeji Ogunnaike here at 9I制作厂免费. He also founded the Institute for Advanced Study in Ile-Ife, Nigeria whose mission is to reform and elevate the academy in Africa, and he has extensive experience working in and with the academy in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In addition to his research and publication awards, he was also awarded the Mendehlson Award for graduate advising from Harvard鈥檚 Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and will be available to discuss topics from navigating the job market, publications, career trajectories, international research, the human side of Academia, and more.

Abstract:

Although Africa鈥攁nd particular indigenous societies鈥攈ave contributed the least to our current climate crisis but are tragically and ironically among the most affected by it. This lecture interrogates why indegnous forms of knowledge in Africa hold immense potential for addressing the climate crisis but have so far been largely ignored. Through examples of how indigenous epistemologies and traditions have managed effective relationships between humanity and the environment in the past and present, it offers challenges for a path forward and how collective action and our notions of self, community, and relationship can be (re)structured so we can create a new way of living with and in our world.