Dr. Mohamed Saeed M. Eltayeb holds a Bachelor of Laws (University of Khartoum), post-graduate diplomas in international relations (University of Khartoum) and international law & organization for development (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague), masters degrees in international relations (University of Amsterdam) and international law (Lund University, Sweden), and a PhD in international human rights law (Utrecht University, Netherlands). He has worked at the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (SIM), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Faculty of Law of the University of Khartoum and the Regional Institute for Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights of the Ahfad University (Sudan) and has been a visiting researcher at institutes in Europe and United States, including the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law of the University of Lausanne, the Human Rights Centre at Essex University, the Law and Religion Program at Emory University School of Law, the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School and Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University. He is currently working as a Human Rights Advisor at the Human Rights Department of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Helena van Coller is Associate Professor and course co-ordinator for Commercial Law 1 in the Faculty of Law at Rhodes University, South Africa. She also teaches Administrative Law to final year LLB-students. She joined the Faculty in July 2005. She obtained her LLB and LLM degrees (both with distinction) from the University of the Free State and an LLM (with distinction) from the University of Utrecht. She lectured part-time at the University of the Free State and supervised students from the Governance Programme, after obtaining a Master’s degree in Governance and Political Transformation from UFS in 2008. She was admitted as an advocate in 2004. She submitted her LLD (in Administrative Law) at the end of 2011 and graduated in 2012. She is an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa.
Mahfoud Ali Zoui is a professor of civilization at the Department of English, Guelma University, Algeria. He is the author of many papers including: “Freedom of Expression and the Right to Offend: Western Vs. Islamic Perspectives”, and “Media Discourse and Intolerance of Muslim Post -9/11 Visibility in the West: The British Context”. He presided over the organizing committee of the international conference “15 Years in the New Millennium: The Grand Upheavals; Global Security, Ideological Conflict and Literary” held at Guelma University in November 2016. His research areas of interest include faith minorities and intercivilizational dialogue, political Islam, and multiculturalism.
Jean-Baptiste Sourou is Professor of Communications and the Founder and President of the Center for Documentation and Research on Art and Social Sciences (CeDReS Project) in Benin Republic. He also teaches African Cultures and Migrations in universities and schools in Italy. He holds a BA, an MA, and a PhD in Social Communications and Social Sciences from the Gregorian University. He also has a BA and an MA in Theology from universities in Padua and Rome. He is an international media practitioner, and won The International Award of Solidarity with Refugees at the 2013 and 2016 International Journalism and Media Awards, and the Award of the Best Writer/Author at the 2013 Africa-Italy Excellence Awards. Prof. Sourou’s research interests center on rites, dance, and music, and the relationship between media, culture, and religion, especially in Africa. His research has earned him international honours such as the 2012 African Studies Association (ASA) Presidential Fellowship, and the 2007 International Award in Media, Religion, and Culture. He also researches African immigration through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. He has founded two associations, Cedres NGO in Benin and Il Cedro in Italy, to promote education in Africa as a solution to the endless flow of African forced migrations towards Europe. He has published writings on African cultural, social, and religious life. He is a member of the International Society in Media, Religion, and Culture, and Consultant for the Observatory of Media and Religion in Canada.
Musa W. Dube studied New Testament literature at the University of Durham (UK) and the University of Vanderbilt (USA), graduating in 1990 and 1997 respectively. Her research interests include gender, postcolonial, translation and HIV/AIDS studies. Dube is a prolific writer and internationally-sought speaker, who has given talks in over twenty-seven countries and authored 262 academic works, published in journals, books, encyclopaedias, and magazines; and an editor of eleven anthologies. She is an active member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and the Society of Biblical Literature. Dube is currently a professor at the University of Botswana, Department of Theology and Religious Studies.
Muhammed Haron is a South African professor who is based in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at the University of Botswana. He authored The Dynamics of Christian-Muslim Relations (2006), edited Going Forward: South African-Malaysia Relations (2008), compiled/edited South Africa’s Muslims: Annotated Bibliography (1997), and South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: An Annotated Bibliography (2009), and co-edited Islamic Civilization in Southern Africa (2009) and Muslim Higher Education in Postcolonial Africa (2016). He edited special issues on ‘Arabo-Islamic Manuscripts [in Africa]’ for Tydksrif vir Letterkunde (Pretoria 45:1, 2008), and a special issue on ‘Muslims in Southern Africa’ for BOLESWA: Journal of Theology, Religion and Philosophy (University of Botswana 4:1, 2012). He co-edited Annual Review of Islam in Africa (Cape Town 2015/2016).
Fidelis Nkomazana is currently an associate professor of Church History and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Botswana. He studied for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He is widely researched and published on church history, women and other related aspects, such as the histories of the Anglican church, Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostalism, and Dutch Reformed church. His current research focus is on Pentecostalism. He has published several articles in peer reviewed journals, chapters in books, and attended several international conferences.
Dr. Célestin Gnonzion obtained his PhD from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome in Italy in 2008. He is founder and President of the Ivoirian Network for promotion of Ethics in Society (Réseau Ivoirien pour la promotion de l’Ethique dans la société-RIPES). Dr. Gnonzion is a teacher in the Faculty of Information, Communication and Arts, Félix Houphouet-Boigny University in Ivory Coast. He lectures on topics of journalism and ethics such as Ethics of Public Social Communications, Ethics and Deontology in Media and Methods, and Techniques of Social Science. He has published on topics such as the impact of press on democratic processes, ethical decision-making factors of journalists, and Ivory Coast and media freedom.
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Rossella Bottoni is specialised in Law and Religion. She wrote her PhD dissertation on the origins of secularism in Turkey (1839-1938), which received in 2007 the Arturo Carlo Jemolo Award for the best PhD dissertation in Law and Religion-related disciplines. She is currently Researcher of History and Systems of Church-State Relations in the Faculty of Political Sciences at the Catholic University of Milan, and Adjunct Professor of Church-State Relations in the Department of Political and Legal Sciences and International Studies at the University of Padua, Italy.
Cristiana Cianitto attended the Faculty of Law in the Università degli Studi in Milan, where she took her undergraduate degree in Law in 2000 and her PhD in Philosophy of Law, curriculum in Ecclesiastical and Canon Law, in 2005. Since October 2007 she has been a Lecturer in Canon Law at the University of Milan, Faculty of Law. Her main fields of investigation are church and state relationships in UK with a particular attention to the Anglican canon law and the British legal system in relation to religious issues and hate crimes, hate speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression in the UK, USA, India, and Italy. In 2008 she was a founding member of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), and she has since continuted as the general coordinator of ICLARS secretariat. She serves as a case note editor for the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion and is Coordinator of the Secretariat of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies. She is a member of the editorial committee of the journal Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica.
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Rev. Luka Ariko Ekitala, was born in Turkana County on October 18th 1968. He has been an ordained Minister of the Reformed Church of East Africa since 1998. He worked in the Parish for three years before he joined the Reformed Institute for Theological Training as a lecturer and later Principal, a position he held of five years. He taught Church History and Church polity.He is currently The University Chaplain, Moi University in Eldoret. He holds B. Arts (Egerton University), B. Divinity (St. Paul’s, Univeristy-Limiru), PGD in Theology, and M. Th (Stellenbosch University). He is enrolled in the faculty of Theology for a Doctoral Degree program.
Hon. Tito Kunyuk is a Kadhi ‘s Court Magistrate based at Kakuma Law courts in Turkana County, Kenya. He holds a Bachelor of Sharia from the International University of Africa, Sudan (2005), a Bachelor of Laws from Mt. Kenya University (2016) and a Diploma in English, Literature, and History from Kagumo Teachers’ Training College (2012). He is currently finishing his MA in Religious Studies (Islamic Studies) from Mt. Kenya University. He joined the Kenyan judiciary in December 2012 and is currently a Senior Resident Kadhi. His research interests include the role of Islamic law in advancing the rule of law in Kenya.
Dr. Mohamed Mraja is currently the head of the Department of Gender and Social Economic Development in the School of Arts & Social Sciences, Moi University. He is a senior lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Department of Philosophy, Religion and Theology, in the same university. He has authored, among other scholarly articles, “Sheikh al-Amin Mazrui (1891-1947) and the Dilemma of Islamic Law in the Kenyan Legal System in the 21st Century”, in Journal for Islamic Studies, vol. 31, Centre for Contemporary Islam, University of Cape Town, 2011 and “The Reform Ideas of Shaykh ʻAbdallāh Ṣāliḥ al-Farsī and the Transformation of Marital Practices among Digo Muslims of Kenya”, in Islamic Law and Society, vol. 17, No.2, Brill: Leiden, 2010.
Dr. Esha Faki Mwinyihaji is a lecturer in Islamic Studies and current Chair of the Department of Religion, Theology, and Philosophy at Maseno University, Kenya. Her research interests are Muslim women’s rights and the Shari’a, with a focus on education, inheritance, politics, marriage, and property; religion and politics, inter-religious dialogue, divination, and Islam and human rights. She has written a book on The Persistence of Divination among Swahili Muslims in Kenya.
Hassan J. Ndzovu is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology, Moi University, Kenya. He was awarded a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in 2009. Ndzovu has also held two postdoctoral positions at Freie Universität Berlin (2013-2014) and Northwestern University, USA (2010-2011). His research interests are broadly focused on Islam in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, and his research revolves around religion and politics/law, religious based conflict, religious authority within the Islamic tradition, religion and sexuality, and witchcraft among African societies. Ndzovu has conducted previous studies related with the Muslim community of Kenya. A culmination of some of his research projects the publication of Muslims in Kenyan Politics: Political Involvement, Marginalization and Minority Status.
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Damaris S Parsitau is Associate Professor of Religion and Gender Studies at Egerton University, Kenya. Her research interests include Pentecostalism, Gender and Sexuality in Kenya. In 2018-2019 She was appointed a Research Associate at Harvard University’s Women Studies in Religion Programme (WSRP) and carried out research on Pentecostalism and Women Bodies in Kenya. In 2017, Damaris also served as an Echidna Global Scholar at the Brookings Institutions, Centre for Universal Education (CUE), Washington DC. Damaris previously held Visiting Research Fellowships at the University of Cambridge in England and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She is also an affiliated Research Fellow (non-enumerated) at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and external examiner in various Universities in East and South Africa. She is also a project advisor for the Nagel Institute/John Templeton Africa Theological Advice Project where she advises research teams in Ethiopia and East Africa. She is also a beneficiary of many research grants and awards.
Damaris Seleina Parsitau is a lecturer and a researcher of Kenyan Pentecostalism based at Egerton University, Kenya. She has published more than 20 book chapters and journal articles on Kenyan Pentecostalism. She recently completed her PhD thesis on Neo-Pentecostalism: Its Civic and Public Roles in Kenya (1970-2012). Currently, she is researching Pentecostals and politics, Christian churches, Islamophobia, and the Kadhi court controversy, prophesy and prayer as civic engagement. She was a visiting research fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, and a visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
T. Jeremy Gunn, now at the International University of Rabat, was previously Professor of International Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Al AKhwayn University. Prior to these appointments in Morocco, he served as director of the program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at the American Civil Liberties Union and as director of research at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. He earned his PhD from Harvard University, JD from Boston University (magna cum laude), MA from the University of Chicago, and BA in International Relations and Humanities from Brigham Young University. His publications include his Harvard dissertation, published as A Standard for Repair: The Establishment Clause, Equality, and Natural Rights, and the articles 'Religious Symbols in Public Schools: The Islamic Headscarf and the European Court of Human Rights Decision in Sahin v. Turkey'; 'Permissible Limitations on Religion'; 'Freedom of Religion and International Politics', World Politics Review; 'Religious Symbols and Religious Expression in the Public Square'; 'The Human Rights System'; and the book, No Establishment of Religion: America’s Original Contribution to Religious Liberty, ed. with John Witte Jr. (OUP 2012).
Amal Idrissi is Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Moulay Ismail in Meknès, Morocco. She is the first woman to be promoted to full professor in the law faculty at the university. She previously taught at University Hassan I in Settat, Morocco. She received a National Doctorate in Public Law from Hassan I University in Casablanca. In addition to teaching public law and constitutional law, her research interests and publications focus on the rights of women, and religion and law. She wrote, with T. Jeremy Gunn, the article on Morocco for the Brill Encyclopedia of Law and Religion.
Sohail Wahedi is a PhD Candidate in the field of law and religion at Erasmus School of Law. He was a writing scholar in Brigham Young University’s inaugural Young Scholars Fellowship on Religion and the Rule of Law (Aug. 2018), and a visiting fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto (Apr. 2018). Sohail’s work has appeared in Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, Quinnipiac Health Law Journal and it is forthcoming in California Western Law Review and California Western International Law Journal.
Dr. Adams Olufemi Akewula received a Bachelor of Arts in Arabic and Islamic Studies from University of Ibadan in 2005. He had a keen interest in language and was rewarded with the ‘Best Student in Islamic Law’ prize on Valedictory and Prize-Giving Day from his Arabic School. During his MA program in Arabic and Islamic Studies, he was introduced to Law and Religion which led to studies in Islamic jurisprudence and Shariah. He became a teacher of the Arabic aspect of Religion and Islamic Law. Dr. Akewula teaches Islamic jurisprudence in Arabic. He is a member of the Shariah Arbitrations panel in Ibadan, Oyo state and a visiting lecturer at the School of Legal Studies, Ilorin, Kwara state. Dr. Akewula’s goals include establishing a strong intercultural link in law and religion studies in Nigeria and Africa through mentoring younger scholars.
Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi is a law lecturer at the University of Lagos and the Founding Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), a prominent voice of the feminist movement in Africa, advocating for good governance, gender equality, voice and participation. Abiola is currently the Chairperson of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) the largest civil society coalition on elections in Nigeria and the Acting Secretary West African Law and Religion Society (WACLARS). Abiola has several academic publications and consults for local and international development organizations and governments on issues of gender, climate justice, anti-corruption, governance, and human rights. As a human rights attorney, Abiola supports hundreds of indigent women and girls annually in Nigeria through the instruments of law. She graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1994, and proceeded to the University of Notre Dame, USA in 1998 and later received her doctoral degree from the University of London. Abiola has been honored with several awards for her commitment to promoting human rights in Nigeria and Africa as a whole including the International Defenders’ Award to commemorate the first UN Anniversary of Human Rights Defenders in 1999.
Dr. Adeyinka Oladayo Bankole holds a PhD degree in Sociology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He began his career as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan. After some stint abroad, he joined the Redeemer’s University in 2009 and served as Head of Department of Behavioural Studies (2009-2011); Sub-Dean, College of Management Sciences (2013-2015); and Chairman, College Research Grants Committee (2011-2015). Currently, he is an associate professor and Head of Department of Sociology, Bowen University, Nigeria. His research is mainly in the field of sociology of development with specific focus on globalization, African studies, workplace behaviour, gender and sociology of religion. He was a UNESCO Fellow 2003-2004 and Research Scholar at the University of Warsaw, Poland from 2006 to 2008; a recipient of Leverhulme Trust Grants to participate in the Joint Programme of the University of Bristol and University College, London, United Kingdom on ‘Migration and Citizenship’ in 2008. He is a member of reputable learned societies, notably, International Sociological Association. Among his many publications, he is co-editor of the book titled NGOs, International Aid and Development in the South published by the University of Warsaw Press (Poland) in 2008.
Ahmed Salisu Garba attended the University of Jos, Faculty of Law, earning First and Second Degrees in 2004 and 2011 respectively. Called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005, he is still in active legal practice and has held the position of Head of Chambers in the law firm of ABC Attorneys. He is presently the Acting HOD in the Department of Private and Business Law. He teaches law at the Bauchi State University, Gadau, in Nigeria. A PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, he is working on the regulation of religious preaching in Nigeria with a focus on Islamic Preaching Board Laws. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa College of Law in the United States from August–December 2013. His publications include a recent article in the Annual Review of Islam in Africa published by the University of Cape Town.
Patricia Imade Gbobo is a lecturer in the Department of Private and Property Law, Faculty of Law, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria where she also doubles as a research editor in Uniport Journal of Private Law, a bi-annual peer reviewed journal published under the auspices of the Department of Private and Property Law. She holds an LLB and LLM degree from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt. Nigeria. She is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and is currently a doctoral researcher at the same university with sub-specialty Human Rights Law and Gender Issues. She has published several articles in leading peer reviewed journals on critical aspects of Women and Child Rights Issues and Medical Law. Her scholarly works include An Appraisal of Discriminatory Cultural Practices Against Women in Nigeria; Child Trafficking in Nigeria: A Violation of the Rights of Children to Life, Security and Dignity; An Analysis of Doctrine of Informed Consent in Nigeria Health Care Services; The Customary, Religious and Legal Perspectives of Euthanasia in Nigeria: An Appraisal. She is a recipient of several academic scholarships and awards.
Akinola Ibidapo-Obe is Professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria. As Dean of Law, he pioneered the introduction of Law and Religion studies as an approved course in the Curriculum of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos for the 2016/2017 session. He is the former Director of the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) in the Faculty of Law. Professor Ibidapo-Obe's involvement with the law and religion movement began when he attended the 21st International Conference on Law and Religion held in Provo in October 2014. His faculty subsequently hosted an International Conference, "Towards Law and Religious Freedom in Africa", with support from Brigham Young University (BYU). Ibidapo-Obe together with his colleagues in several other Nigerian Universities and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) branches in Lagos and Ikeja, have formed the Nigeria Association for Law and Religion Studies (NALARS) and the West African Regional Centre for Law and Religion Studies (WARCLARS) to promote teaching and research on law and religion in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region. NALARS, WARCLARS, ACLARS, ICLARS, and the National Judicial Institute of Nigeria are also collaborating to organize the 1st National Judicial Roundtable on the Intersection Between Law and Religion: World Perspectives in the Nigerian Capital, Abuja on June 20, 2016.
Ismael Saka Ismael was educated at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (LLB and PhD), and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (LLM). He is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He was a lecturer at Faculty of Law, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto from 1993 to 1998, and since 1998, he has been at the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he is currently a senior lecturer and Ag. Head of Department, Department of Islamic Law. He has published papers in national and international journals.
Dr. Habibat Oladusu-Uthman obtained her PhD from the International Islamic University Malaysia specializing in Islamic and other civilizations. Her areas of interest includes Gender studies, cultural criticism, modernity, History of Islam and Muslims in West Africa. She is the author of Muslim Women and the Politics of Emplacement (2011).
Idowu Akinloye is an ordained priest in the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. He holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He obtained Honours degrees in Theology and in Law from the Archbishop Vining College of Theology and the Delta State University respectively. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2010. He lectured at the Faculty of Law, Ajayi Crowther University. He is currently enrolled at the Faculty of Law, Rhodes University for his PhD titled ‘An examination of the efficacy of church internal governance mechanisms in reducing legal disputes within South African and Nigerian churches.’
Dianna Bell is an associate research fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at University of Cape Town. She studies the history of Islam and indigenous religion in Francophone West Africa, especially southern Mali. She has published on an array of topics, including education, religion and the environment, the relationship between humans and animals, and dream interpretation using biography as her primary method. Her book, Between Prayers: The Life and Merit of a West Africa Muslim is due to be published by Duke University Press in spring 2020. She plans to begin studying law at the University of Cape next year.
Associate Professor at the Department of Public Law at the University of the Free State, South Africa, where he teaches Constitutional Law and International Law at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Managing Editor of the Journal for Juridical Science. Specialises in matters related to religious rights and freedoms.
Lee-Shae Logan Scharnick-Udemans is a lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She holds a Bachelor in Social Science (Hons) and a Master's in Social Science (Distinction) from the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include religion and public pedagogy, religion and media, religion and politics, religion and law, and critical pedagogy and curriculum design. Her research focuses on the multiple historical and contemporary intersections of the religion, politics, and media triptych. It traces and critically engages with the historical and contemporary role of religion in the political economy of public broadcasting in South Africa.
Asonzeh Ukah is a sociologist and historian of religion. He joined the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2013. Previously, he taught at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, from 2005 to 2013. He studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the University of Bayreuth, Germany. He is the author of A New Paradigm of Pentecostal Power: A Study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria (Africa World Press, 2008) and co-editor of Bourdieu in Africa: Exploring the Dynamics of Religious Fields (Brill, 2016). He is Director of the Research Institute on Christianity and Society in Africa (RICSA), University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Affiliated Senior Fellow of Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), University of Bayreuth, Germany.
Yolanda van der Vyver holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Pretoria. For her thesis she rewrote the curriculum for a course on the History of the southern African environment. She obtained a BA Honours in French and a BArch from the University of Pretoria. She is currently enrolled at the University of the Free State for her PhD titled A critical interpretation of the temporal impact of landscape, space and power on the built environment of Church Square, Pretoria (1841-2016) and will receive her degree of Doctor in Architecture in June of 2019. She has been practicing architecture since 1996, is a founding member of Y and K Architects, and a fellow of the Association of Arbitrators.
Tammy Wilks is a doctoral candidate in Religion at the University of Cape Town. Her dissertation focuses on the material strategies of communities in Nairobi in their management of religious difference.
Elias Kifon Bongmba is the Harry and Hazel Chair in Christian Theology and Professor of Religion at Rice University. Professor Bongmba is President of the African Association for the Study of Religion. He has authored dozens of peer reviewed essays and book chapters and is author of The Dialectics of Transformation in Africa, which won the Frantz Fanon Prize in Caribbean Thought.
Cole Durham is Founding Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) and the former Susa Young Gates University Professor of Law and at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a Note Editor of the Harvard Law Review and Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He has been heavily involved in comparative law scholarship, with a special emphasis on comparative constitutional law. He is a founding Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He served as the Secretary of the American Society of Comparative Law from 1989 to 1994. He is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Paris—the premier academic organization at the global level in comparative law. He served as a General Rapporteur for the topic 'Religion and the Secular State' at the 18th Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, held in July 2010. He served in earlier years as Chair both of the Comparative Law Section and the Law and Religion Section of the American Association of Law Schools. Professor Durham was President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS) from 2011-2016.
Brett G. Scharffs is Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law and Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School. He received a BSBA in international business and an MA in philosophy at Georgetown University and, as a Rhodes Scholar, earned a BPhil in philosophy at Oxford. He received his JD from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is a recurring visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest and at the University of Adelaide Law School. He has for several years helped organize certificate training programs in religion and the rule of law in China and in Vietnam and has taught and helped organize programs at several Indonesian universities on sharia and human rights. Author of more than 100 articles and book chapters, he has made more than 300 scholarly presentations in 30 countries. His casebook, Law and Religion: National, International and Comparative Perspectives (with Cole Durham, 2nd English edition forthcoming 2017), has been translated into Chinese and Vietnamese, with Turkish, Burmese, and Arabic in process. He is author with Elizabeth Clark of Religion and Law in the USA, a 2016 contribution to Wolters Kluwer’s International Encyclopaedia of Laws.
Johan van der Vyver is I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Emory University, and Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Private Law of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Formerly, he was Professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in South Africa. He served as the Human Rights Fellow of The Carter Center from 1995-1998. Current teaching obligations include Public International Law, International Human Rights, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Comparative Bills of Rights, and Implementation of International Law in the United States. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws, Honours Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (Potchefstroom University); Doctor of Laws (University of Pretoria); and the Diploma of the International and Comparative Law of Human Rights (International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg). He was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees by the University of Zululand in 1993 and Potchefstroom University in 2003. The author of eleven books and monographs and close to 300 chapters in books, law review and other articles, and book reviews, his research interests include human rights, and international criminal law among others.
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Ezra Chitando serves as Theology Consultant/Southern African Regional Coordinator for the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy. He is also Professor of History of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe. His research and publication interests include Religion and: Human Rights, Sexuality, Gender, Security, Climate Change, Politics, Economics and others.
Edmore Dube is a lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Great Zimbabwe University. His research interests include religion and ethics, particularly how religious institutions can impact positively on public health, business and human rights. He is particularly interested in the interrogation of theological positions with the intention of envisioning a better world order informed by interreligious dialogue. He received a BA General in English and Religious Studies (1992), a BA Special Honours in Religious Studies (1993), a Master's in Islamic Studies (1995) and a DPhil in Christian-Muslim Dialogue (2003) from the University of Zimbabwe.
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Enna Sukutai Gudhlanga holds a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy from UNISA, BA and MA from the University of Zimbabwe. She is an Associate Professor in African Languages and Literature and is the Chairperson of the Department of Languages and Literature at Zimbabwe Open University. Enna holds certificates in Gender Mainstreaming from OSSREA, CODESRIA and UNIDEP. Enna is interested in the study of Africa and the development of its literatures, cultures and world outlooks. Her main concern is the ultimate self-definition and complete mastery of the African people’s own life. Her publications include: Gender, Politics and Land Use in Zimbabwe, 1980-2012 (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2015). She has presented papers on gender and children’s issues at many international conferences and has been awarded research grants by several organisations to research on the marginalised people of Zimbabwe. Enna is also interested in socio-linguistic issues like democracy, language rights, planning and policy.
Bernard Pindukai Humbe is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo. He is a PhD candidate with the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a subscribed member of ACLARS and ICLARS and presented a paper at the 4th ACLARS Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His research interests include: Symbolism of Animals in African Indigenous Religion, Onomastics, Traditional Law and Social Development, Religion and Entrepreneurship, Religion and Social Transformation, and Religion and Power.
Elias G. Konyana is a lecturer and academic researcher in the School of Arts, Culture, and Heritage Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo. He teaches Logic and Ethics at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has recently completed his doctoral studies with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa. Konyana’s research interests are rooted in Ethical Philosophy, unpacking ethical issues from law and culture. To date, Elias has presented several papers at regional and international conferences on the link between ethics, culture, and the law. He is a non-executive member of CODESRIA.
Fortune Sibanda lectures in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo. He obtained his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Zimbabwe in 2015. He has published many articles in refereed journals, and written book chapters on various themes from a religious studies perspective such as new religious movements, land, indigenous ways of knowing, human rights issues, and the environment in the African context. Among other platforms, Sibanda attended and presented papers at the second and third ACLARS conferences.