Nairobi, Kenya, May 15-18, 2022

Conference Concept

The COVID-19 pandemic has demanded responses from the legal and religious sectors, sometimes creating conflict around issues of religious freedom and the proper scope of legal regulation to mitigate the pandemic. In other cases, it has prompted new collaborations between government and religion in the interest of public health. Institutions of medicine, education, family, and local communities bore the burden of the pandemic. Women experienced increased heightened vulnerability in their families and in their essential economic and business roles. Essentially, no sector of African societies has been immune from the effects of COVID-19, prompting opportunities for legal and religious innovation and agency in response.

With these considerations in mind, the Kenya Conference will address the impact of the pandemic on rethinking the concepts of health and healing—physical, spiritual, socioeconomic, cultural, and by other metrics—in Africa. Papers will explore hat lessons African societies have learned from previous and current pandemics, and what will health and healing practices and imaginaries look like after COVID-19 in Africa?  The conference will focus heavily on direct health concerns, but will raise as well questions about health and healing in a broader sense.

Watch for additional information on this page about conference hotel, information on compliance with ongoing COVID regulations, the tentative conference program, and much more!