Ebola, Africa, And Beyond: An Epidemic in Religious and Public Health Perspectives

This roundtable brings together public health experts and religion scholars to ask what we can learn from the epidemic in relation to the potential of religion to help or hinder effective responses to threats like Ebola, both in and beyond Africa, and how religious studies can nuance public health understandings of African realities. Epidemics always highlight or exaggerate the power relations and inequalities that characterize everyday life--no less so in the case of the West African Ebola epidemic. The epidemic has revealed the inadequacy of medical infrastructures in Africa, the influence that international institutions have over African public health crises, and the prejudices that inform popular understandings of the continent. Religion has played a key role in these dynamics. Not only have ritual practices allegedly contributed to the epidemic's spread, but religious leaders have tried to educate their followers in collaboration with public health authorities to stem the epidemic. Panelists: Elias Kifon Bongmba, Rice University Scott Santibañez, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention John Blevins, Emory University Ellen Idler, Emory University Joseph Hellweg, Florida State University, Presiding This roundtable was recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 23 in Atlanta, GA.