REL 1280 RELIGION, RACE, AND RESISTANCE
In this course we examine the role that Christianity played in the construction of the category of race and in the political and economic processes of slavery, colonization, and colonialism that shaped the modern era of global capitalism. We will pay particular attention to the religious history and experience of Native Americans and people of African descent in the United States with an eye toward understanding how religion has been used as both as a weapon to support and enforce racism as well as a source of liberation for Black and Native peoples.
Course Types
Interreligious Studies elective, AAASE elective, Poverty and Social Justice elective
Offered
Fall, Spring
- Students will demonstrate their ability to think critically about the categories of “religion” and “race."
- Students will recognize and describe breadth and diversity within particular constructions of religion.
- Students will demonstrate a critical understanding of the relationship between religion and race.
- Students will demonstrate their ability to think critically about the socially constructed nature of that which can be categorized as “religious.”
- Students will recognize and explain ways in which “religion” has cultural, political, and/or economic significance and/or ways in which cultural, political, and/or economic phenomena have significance for “religion.”
- Students will articulate the relevance of Religious Studies to understanding and/or addressing questions and problems that face our world.