The geographical region that stretches from the southern boundary of the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope is larger than the United States, India and Western Europe combined. The regions’ one billion people live in countries that are experiencing dramatic economic growth, along with increasing life expectancy and literacy rates. They are also among the most religious people in the world.
Pentecostal, Catholic and Muslim organizations often provide essential support for healthcare and education where state institutions are weak or dysfunctional. Understanding the capacities, limitations and challenges of religious groups in Sub-Saharan Africa is thus essential to conversations about economic development, peacemaking and human rights.
ArticleEla Gandhi: New Book Shares The Life And Lessons of Anti-Apartheid ActivistThis article was originally published in Religion Unplugged, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. BERLIN— There is a temptation when you meet Ela Gandhi to assume her soft, fluttering voice, …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleSister Rosemary Nyirumbe: A Skeptic’s Take On A Nun’s Vocation To Serve The Poor Regardless Of RisksThis article was originally published by Religion Unplugged, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. ATIAK, Uganda— Studying religion all of my academic career has made me into a bit of …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleHeline Babiene Eweni: In Cameroon, A 24-Year-Old Youth Pastor Is Helping Hundreds Displaced By ConflictThis article was originally published by Religion Unplugged, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. KUMBA, Cameroon — At precisely 10 p.m. every day, she locks herself in the silence of …Topics: COVID, Engaged Spirituality, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleIda Puliwa: How A Stranger’s Kindness Transformed A Village In MalawiThis article was originally published in Religion Unplugged, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. In my last international trip before the pandemic, I had the chance to interview a young …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleMarie-Stella Kouak: The Togolese Nun Caring for AIDS Patients Amid COVID-19This article was originally published in The Guardian, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. Dapaong is a buzzing, multi-religious city, 13 miles south of Togo’s border with Burkina Faso and …Topics: Catholics and Catholicism, COVID, Engaged Spirituality, Healthcare, Nuns and Women Religious, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleRNS: In Togo, a Catholic nun fights COVID-19 for the sake of her AIDS patientsThis article was originally published in Religion News Service, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. (RNS) — “Here, people won’t die from COVID-19 but mostly from its consequences,” said Sister …Topics: Catholics and Catholicism, Christians and Christianity, COVID, Engaged Spirituality, Healthcare, Nuns and Women Religious, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleJean Gakwandi: Rwanda Ministry Brings Genocide Survivors HopeThis article was originally published in Christianity Today, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. It was raining ferociously, causing the women and orphans to move away from the …Topics: Christians and Christianity, Engaged Spirituality, Genocide, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa, Violence
ArticleThe Moroccan School Training Women Imams To Combat ExtremismThis article was originally published in Religion Unplugged, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. It supplements Priyadarshini Sen’s profile of Ahmed Toufiq. RABAT, Morocco — Wearing an embroidered …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Gender, Middle East and North Africa, Muslims and Islam, Religious Leadership, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa
ArticleImam Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye: From Enemies to Friends Building PeaceThis article was originally published in Ripples Nigeria, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. Of its 60 years of existence as an independent state, Africa’s most populous country, …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Interfaith/Multifaith Movements, International Affairs and Policy, Religious Extremism, Religious Leadership, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa, Violence
ArticleImam Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye: Bringing Peace to Warring Nigerian CommunitiesThis article was originally published in Premium Times, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. For the greater part of May 2, 2004, 40-year-old Amina Abubakar endured nine-month-old pregnancy …Topics: Christians and Christianity, Engaged Spirituality, Interfaith/Multifaith Movements, Muslims and Islam, Religious Extremism, Religious Leadership, Spiritual Exemplars, Sub-Saharan Africa, Violence
CommentaryCan Religion Help Survivors Regain Their Humanity? A Reflection on the Rwandan GenocideThe following article originally appear in Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine, a New Zealand publication. One of the first survivors that I interviewed in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide told me that his …Topics: Christians and Christianity, Engaged Spirituality, Faith-Based Organizations, Genocide, Religious Leadership, Sub-Saharan Africa, Violence
BookBecoming Human Again: An Oral History of the Rwanda Genocide against the TutsiBecoming Human Again: An Oral History of the Rwanda Genocide against the Tutsi By Donald E. Miller with Lorna Touryan Miller and Arpi Misha Miller (University of California Press, 2020) Genocide involves …Topics: Books, Genocide, Sub-Saharan Africa, Violence
“While the ‘beach children’ phenomenon remains a blot on Lagos’s urban landscape, churches such as the RCCG, with their message of salvation and active concern for those at society’s margins, offer a glimmer of hope.”
—Richard Burgess
“‘Beach Children’ Find Salvation through Pentecostal Preachers”
CRCC Experts
To schedule an interview with one of our experts, please contact CRCC:
crcc@usc.edu or 213-743-1611
Tarra McNallyAssistant Director of EvaluationTarra McNally is an anthropologist specializing in evaluation and global health.
Donald E. MillerDirector of Strategic InitiativesDonald Miller focuses on global religious trends, genocides of the 20th century, and the role of religious NGOs in addressing issues of moral concern.