Funlayo E Wood-Menzies

Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies, PhD is a scholar-practitioner of Africana Religions, specializing in the Ifa-Orisa tradition as practiced in Nigeria and among African Americans in the US. She is the founding director of the African and Diasporic Religious Studies Association and founding dean of Ase Ire Communiversity, an independent Africana Studies Institute. Dr. Wood-Menzies received her PhD from Harvard University and her work has been published in academic and popular venues including the Journal of Africana Studies, the Review of Religious Research, and Medium. Her book in progress, Obi: Death, Divination, and the Divine Femininewill produce the first scholarly monograph on the kola nut in the context of African Religion. A dedicated public scholar, she lectures frequently and has appeared in documentaries for PBS and the National Geographic Channel.