Following the success of conferences in Ghana (2013), South Africa (2014), Namibia (2015), Ethiopia (2016), Morocco (2017) and Nigeria (2018), the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies will be convening its Seventh Annual Law and Religion Conference in Gaborone, Botswana from 19 to 22 May 2019 in collaboration with the Department of Theology & Religious Studies, the Department of Law at the University of Botswana, and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of the Brigham Young University Law School, USA.
The subject of the conference will be Law, Religion, and Environment in Africa. Intending participants are encouraged to submit abstracts which address any aspect of the theme, drawing on their field of study, professional expertise, and national, regional, or comparative experience. Themes for the conference include, but are not limited to:
- Freedom of Religion or Belief, Human Rights, and the Environment
- Religion and International Law on the Environment in Africa since the 1992 Kyoto Protocol, the 2015 Paris Climate Accord and in relation to the 2030 UN Agenda
- Religion and the Governance of Sacred Sites, Biosphere Reserves and Heritage Sites
- Environmental Policies on Land, Water, Pollution, Waste, and Food and Religious Human Rights Movements/Responses
- Faith-Based Organisations and Interreligious Initiatives on Environment in Africa
- Environmental and/or Human Dignity: Negotiating Competing Grounds of Rights
- African Traditional Religion
The 2018 ACLARS Conference—Law, Religion, and Human Flourishing—was held 20-22 May 2018 at Baze University in Abuja, Nigeria. Participants gathered to explore their shared interest in the relationship of law and religion to the advancement of human flourishing. The conference was co-sponsored by ACLARS (the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies), ICLARS (the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Milan, Italy), WARCLARS (the West African Regional Center for Law and Religion Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria), and ICLRS (the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, United States).
In addition to the excellent program enjoyed by this year's participants, the conference also saw the launch of the book, Religion, Law and Security in Africa, which includes contributions from the Fifth ACLARS Conference, "Religion, Law, and Security", held in May 2017 in Rabat, Morocco.
The concept of human flourishing is especially important for Africa, where community and national development compete with forces of conflict and scarce resources. Yet, there is no common understanding of what it means for humans to flourish and the means by which to attain a flourishing life. In the broadest sense, the concept of human flourishing focuses our attention on having a comprehensively good or worthwhile life, but various legal, religious, and ethical traditions suggest different norms for measuring the quality of life and designing the institutional structures that could best facilitate and preserve it.
The Sixth ACLARS Conference focused on this topic by exploring the relationship between religious ideas and sustainable conceptions of humans flourishing in Africa, and how law might help us weigh and relate the various components of such substantive conceptions.
Religion, Law and Security in Africa
M. Christian Green, T. Jeremy Gunn, & Mark Hill, eds.
African Sun Media, May 2017
Security is a key topic of our time. But how do we understand it? Do law and religion take different views of it? In this fifth volume in the Law and Religion in Africa series, radicalisation, terrorism, blasphemy, hate speech, religious freedom and just war theories rub shoulders with issues of witchcraft, female genital mutilation circumcision, child marriage, displaced communities and additional issues besides. This unique collection of topics is both challenging and inspiring, providing illumination in troubled times, and forming a sound foundation for future scholarship.
Introduction
Author: M. Christian Green... more
The Fifth Annual Conference of the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) took place in Rabat, Morocco, from 14 to 17 May 2017. Following the success of conferences in Ghana (2013), South Africa (2014), Namibia (2015) and Ethiopia (2016), this event was a collaboration of ACLARS with the International University of Rabat; the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) of Brigham Young University Law School, United States; and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), Milan, Italy.
Participating in this highly successful event were more than 100 scholars and government and religious leaders from Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon... more
