BRSCC 2016 - 2020
The Fourth Annual Conference
Black Womxn At The Center
The fourth-annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference was held February 27th and 28th, 2020 with the theme Black Womxn at the Center, highlighting Black Womxn doing praxis-driven work in academia, ministry, and the arts, all broadly-defined, and acknowledging self-identified Womanists or Black Feminists doing work that centers folx at the margins.The conference also included current students to present resonant work in addition to panels that brought in academics and activists. The panels included Centering Healing, A Way forward: a discussion with womxn survivors of incarceration, Black Imagination and the Beyond, Black Feminism and Womanisn in the Academy, and Beyond HDS: Black Womxn in Action. Invited panelists included Stacey Borden, Sequoria Dickerson, Dr. Cheryl Giles, Yeshi Milner, Aysha Upchurch, Dr. Monique Moultrie, Dr. Wylin D. Wilson, Chandra Plowden, Taylor Stewart, sadada jackson, Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, Naikia G. Brown, Vanessa Lindley, Nordia Bennett, and Bridget Webster. Students' presentations included Naikia G. Brown, Vanessa Lindley, Nordia Bennett, and Bridget Webster who have written scholarship from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds that emphasize the importance of Black Womxn in spirituality and justice. The Sankofa Award was given to Jamie Johnson-Riley.
BRSCC 2020
The Third Annual Conference
Blackness At The Margins
The third-annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference was held from February 28th to March 1st, 2019 with the definitive theme Blackness at the Margins where the planning committee pushed for recognition of the global and spatial movement of Blackness by stating, “We recognize the depth and multiplicity within which Blackness exists and moves through this world, and as a consequence we seek to understand, to bring to light, as many voices and representations black religions, cultures, and spiritualities hold. We want to harness and cultivate cross movement dialogue, to sit in conversation with one another across religious and spiritual lines that do not often come together at the intersection of Black identity." The conference also included current students to present resonant work in addition to panels that brought in academics and activists. The panels included Black Panther, Diaspora, and the Queering of the Black Imaginary, and Revolutionary Art, Healing, and the Politics of Change. Invited panelists included Dr. Kyrah Daniels, Tony Van der Meer, Nikki Young, Michael Brandon McCormack, Aric Flemming, and Kendra Rosalie Hicks. Students' presentations included N’Kosi Oates (Ph.D at Brown), Brenton Miles Brock (Ph.D at Howard), and Steve Nunez (Ph.D at UConn) presented their research work. The Sankofa Award was given to Dr. Cheryl J. Giles.
BRSCC 2019
The Second Annual Conference
Activism. Community. Scholarship.
The second-annual Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference shifted to a two-day conference that was held on March 22 to the 23, 2018. The conference began to take a thematic approach, weaving together Activism, Community and Scholarship, while highlighting scholarship itself as a transformative practice. The conference also included current students to present resonant work in addition to panels that brought in academics and activists. The panels included Black Religion and Social Activism, Faith and Incarceration, Religion, Sexuality, and Queerness, Black Religion and Culture, Religion and Wellness, Power in the Black Religious Space, and Navigating Identity. Invited panelists included Dr. Brad Braxton, Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, Karlene Griffiths-Sekou, Rev. Nikia Roberts, Edyson Julio, Rev. Ashley Lipscomb, Candice Benbow, Rev. Brandon Crowley, Dr. Kyrah Daniels, Myisha Cherry, Kameelah Rashad, Dr. Carlyle Stewart III, Dr. Funlayo Wood, Imam Khalil Abdur-Rashid, and Janan Graham Russell. The Sankofa Award was given to Dr. Gloria White-Hammond.
BRSCC 2018
The First Annual Conference
Black Religion, Spirituality & Culture
The first ever Black Religion, Spirituality, and Culture Conference was held on November 4th, 2016. The conference is a result of the passionate vision of several students of African descent, endeavoring to find new ways to increase the representation of scholarship present at HDS, spearheaded by chair of the Conference Planning Committee/co-organizer Taylor Stewart. The day began with a spirited morning keynote address delivered in an overfull Andover Chapel where soon academic scholars, faith leaders, and social justices and non-profit leaders from around the country to campus would engage in dialogue in four panels. The panels included Black Religion and Religious Thought, Black Religion and Culture, Religion and Social Justice, and Black Spirituality. The evening closed with the Sankofa Award was given to Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton.