Skip to main content
Event | 16 May 2022 16:15-17:45

Who Owns the Land? Belonging, Spirituality and the Practice of Integral Ecology

Key Details

Location:
Online
Topics:
Agriculture
Environmental Ethics
Social Justice
Integral Ecology
Land

Please note that this event has passed.

This public lecture is offered as part of the Contestations in Land and Agriculture conference held at Christ Church College in Oxford from 16 – 18 May. To learn more about the conference and to register to attend the full conference in person, please see the conference website here.

Format: Online (via Zoom)

Speaker: Professor Emmanuel Katongole

Audience: Theologians, ethicists, philosophers, and anyone interested in questions of land use and agriculture, particularly in a Ugandan and broader African context.

Languages: The lecture will be in English. Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available.

Synopsis: Using Bethany Land Institute as a case study, this keynote lecture will explore the growing phenomenon of land conflicts in Uganda and across Africa. Professor Katongole will argue that these conflicts are symptoms of an ongoing “crisis of belonging” that lies at the heart of Africa’s particular form of modernity. Drawing insights from the Christian biblical-theological tradition, and from African native wisdom, the lecture will outline the kind of spirituality that will be needed to address this crisis, which is closely linked to an integral ecology of belonging to, and caring for, the land. This in turn can contribute to the task of re-envisioning the practice of agriculture in our time.

Biography: Emmanuel Katongole is Professor of Theology and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a joint appointment with the Keough School of Global Affairs, where he serves as a full-time faculty of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Before joining the University of Notre Dame (Jan 2013), he served as Associate Professor of Theology and World Christianity at Duke University, and as founding co-director of the Duke Center for Reconciliation. A member of the Contending Modernities Initiative team, Katongole coordinates an inter-disciplinary research project, which investigates how religious and secular forces compete or collaborate in shaping new modes of authority, community and identity within the context of nation-state modalities in Africa. He is a Catholic priest of Kampala Archdiocese, Uganda where he was ordained in 1987.