The Eighth Biennial International Conference on Africa and Its Diaspora (BICAID 2023) hosted by the African Studies Institute is here. Most of the conference activities will be in the Tate Student Center at the University of Georgia. The conference begins today, Wednesday, November 15 and will run through Friday, November 17, 2023. The theme of this year’s conference is “Religion and Sustainable Socio-Cultural and Economic Development within the 21st Century in Africa and Its Diaspora.” BICAID 2023 is being hosted in a hybrid format with participants making their presentation either in person or remotely. Dr. David Olali, UGA Academic Professional Associate and the Assistant Director of the African Studies Institute is a co-convener of this conference which will feature four plenary sessions- a keynote presentation a special panel, and two lead papers. The schedule of presentations is attached for your review. The limited number of participants attending in-person will be arriving today. Today’s scheduled activities include onsite registrations, reception and the screening of the 2023 Netflix movie, Black Book by Editi Efiong and Kemi Lala Akindoju. The BICAID 2023 keynote lecture will be delivered tomorrow morning at 8am by Professor Danoye Oguntola-Laguda, Professor of Philosophy of Religions at Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. He will be speaking to the theme of the conference. The conference lead paper will be presented by UGA Visiting Research Scholar, Dr. Atinuke Olubukola Okunade, Professor of Christian Religious Studies. She will be speaking on the topic, “Ayé kò lè pa Kádàrá dà: The Spread of African Religions and Medicine in the Diaspora,” on Friday, November 17 at 8:30am in Room 137 Tate Center. The conference round off lecture will be presented by Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, professor of International Law and Jurisprudence and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin on “Law, Religion, and Sustainable Development in Africa” on Friday, November 17 at 4:15pm in Room 137, Tate Center. Egbewole is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) specializing in legal fundamentals, Civil and Public Law, Conflict Processes, Foreign Policy and International Relations. A special part of the conference will be the presentation of the book, ‘African Traditional Religion in Modern Scholarship: Critical Engagements of the Scholarship of Ibigbolade Simeon Aderibigbe’ edited by Oguntola-Laguda and Shitta-Bey (2023), and published by LASU Press and the UGA ASI. The book presentation will be during a conference plenary panel on Friday, November 17 at 2pm in Room 137 Tate Center. The keynote lecture, the other plenary sessions and the conference presentations will all be in the Tate Student Center and live on Zoom. If your schedule permits, we hope you will join us for BICAID 2023 either in person at the Tate Student Center or virtually via the provided zoom links for the different conference events. Event Poster For more information, please contact me, Dr. David Olali, or any of the conference coordinators (Damilola Adebonojo, Blessing Temitope Emmanuel, and Godwin Nichesius) or ASI Staff member, Ms. Jazmin Pittman.
