Longman Attends African Religions Conference in Beijing
Timothy Longman, Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), presented a paper, chaired a panel and provided overall feedback on works presented at a recent international conference in Beijing on African religions.
The two-day conference, entitled “Seminar on African Religions,” was hosted by the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Chinese Society for Religious Studies, and the National Social Sciences Fund of China.
Presentations focused on various aspects of religion in Africa, including some unconventional topics like the history of Buddhism in Africa and the role of the Baha’i faith in Africa. The conference aimed at building up African studies, with China’s growing involvement in the continent, in addition to promoting and improving the study of religion in Chinese academics — something that has been neglected because of the official atheism of the Chinese state.
In addition to presenting a paper on “Explaining Church-State Conflict and Cooperation in East Africa,” Longman chaired a panel and provided overall feedback on the works presented at the conference.