Contemporary challenges facing the practice of Traditional African and African Diasporic Spirituality and possible solutions

Amoo Babatunde Ibrahim

Presenter

Nigerian Researcher, Educator & Environmental Safety Advocate

Amoo Babatunde Ibrahim has a Diploma in International Relations, a graduate in History and Diplomatic Studies, and is a post-graduate student in Urban Environmental Education. A researcher and educator, he is an advocate for environmental safety, African values, and cultural restoration. He is a member of the Lagos Studies Association and has published with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

Dr. Deryck Murray

Presenter

Barbadian Philosopher, Director of the Centre for Hybrid Studies & Lecturer, UWI Cave Hill

Dr. Deryck Murray is a historian and theorist, Director of the Centre for Hybrid Studies, and lecturer at the Department of History, Philosophy and Psychology at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. His research focuses on African and Caribbean knowledge systems, African spirituality and religion, and the historical and contemporary role of obeah in the Caribbean.

Major Alfred Taylor

Chair

Barbadian Major, Barbados Defence Force (Reserve Officer) · Former Director of Music, BDF Band

Prof. Kofi Asare Opoku

Presenter

Ghanaian Scholar of African Traditional Religion · Former Associate Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon · Retired Professor of Religious Studies, Lafayette College

Professor Kofi Asare Opoku was educated at the University of Ghana, Yale University Divinity School, and the University of Bonn. He has taught at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and at institutions including Lafayette College. His publications include Speak to the Winds: Proverbs from Africa, West African Traditional Religion, and Hearing and Keeping: Akan Proverbs.

Simon Mitambo

Presenter

Kenyan Earth Jurisprudence Practitioner · CEO, Society for Alternative Learning & Transformation (SALT) · Co-founder, The Kithino Learning Centre

Simon Mitambo is an Earth Jurisprudence Practitioner and ancestral wisdom and cosmology expert from Tharaka, Kenya. He is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Alternative Learning and Transformation (SALT) and The Kithino Learning Centre, an emerging centre for the regeneration of Nature and Culture in Kenya. A Thematic Coordinator of the African Biodiversity Network and a Core Member of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, he also serves as a knowledge expert at the UN Harmony with Nature Initiative.

Siphiwe Baleka

Presenter

American Global Afrikan Reparatory Justice Strategist · Afrodescendant Theocratic Special Envoy Extraordinary & High Chancellor of Lineage & Ancestral Return, Alafia High Council

Siphiwe Baleka is a former world-class swimmer and Yale graduate turned leading strategist and advocate for Global Afrikan Reparatory Justice. For more than two decades he has worked to develop the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African Union and to advance Afro Descendants' Right of Return and citizenship in their ancestral homelands on the African continent. He serves as Afrodescendant Theocratic Special Envoy Extraordinary & Reparations Expert and High Chancellor of Lineage & Ancestral Return of the Alafia High Council, and is President of the Balanta B'urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA), which has secured citizenship in Guinea Bissau for its members and Afro Descendants of Guinea Bissau origin.