This recording documents the 18th Annual Chris Gray Memorial Lecture, hosted by the African & African Diaspora Studies Program at Florida International University.
Colonial rule in Africa profoundly disrupted indigenous institutions and knowledge systems, particularly in the realm of health and healing. Within these ruptures, new religious, social, and medical movements emerged, negotiating both colonial power and postcolonial transformations. This lecture by Dr. Ogechukwu Williams explores childbirth as a key site of disruption and reinvention, focusing on how African faith healing movements—and one of their earliest churches—transformed from marginalized outcasts of the colonial state into recognized providers of maternal healthcare in the post-colonial era. The talk highlights African agency in reshaping faith, medicine, and authority within colonial and postcolonial frameworks.
