In this Queen Nzingha lecture, (39) we will detail some of the highly developed spiritual and belief systems that existed in various advanced African civilisations prior to European invasion. We will cover:

• Cultural appropriation of African god concepts by the Greeks and Romans
• Male and female god concepts; why is the modern Christian god always male?
• Matriarchal spiritual systems, beyond the Orishas
• The Catholic church and the process of sainthood: how real people become saints and legends
• Religion as suppression/liberation
• Ancient African civilisations
• Surviving African culture/spirituality in the Caribbean

This is an online talk via Zoom. Your Zoom link will be sent to you after you register.

Please note, our illustrated lecture Zombies and the Demonisation of African Spirituality will also be delivered online shortly.

About the Nzingha lecture series: Queen Nzinga was an African Queen who fought against the European invasion of southern Africa (Congo/Angola). The Queen Nzinga lecture series features African female academics / holders of expert knowledge, speaking on topics of their choice. The Nzinga lecture series will provide a regular platform for women of African descent to highlight important issues in an academic setting. For previous lectures, see www.youtube.com/blackhistorywalks

Other coming events from www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk :

• African Women Resistance Leaders: Political and Spiritual course
• Black Films and White Power:10 Years of African Odysseys
• Black Cowgirls and Cowboys, real and imagined
• How Black People won World War 2
• Black Panther’s real African history and the books to prove it
• What were Black people doing in World War 1?
• Black British Civil Rights
• Medical Apartheid: European experiments on African bodies

About the Speaker: Dr Michelle Asantewa

Michelle Yaa Asantewa was born in Guyana. At age 10, she migrated to the UK to reunite with her mother. Her interest in African traditional spiritual practices and cultural identity prompted her to do a PhD on the Guyanese Komfa ritual.

She formerly lectured in English Literature, Editing and Creative Writing at London Metropolitan University and currently facilitates a range of writing workshops as an independent scholar. She is also co-tutor on The Amazing James Baldwin course and the African Women Resistance leaders: Political and Spiritual course

She co-founded Way Wive Wordz Publishing, Editing and Tuition services through which she has published her first novel, Elijah and The Awakening and Other Poems and the more recent titles – her PhD Thesis, Guyanese Komfa: the ritual art of trance, Mama Lou Tales: a folkloric biography of a Guyanese elder and Something Buried in the Yard (an extracted novella from her PhD) were launched in July 2016. She writes a regular blog – Way Wive Wordz .

Image: INSTAGRAM/@AMARALANEGRAALN, DIGITAL DRAWING BY @THICK_EAST_AFRICAN_GIRL