REL 1870 African Gods

Long before African and African Diaspora Religions were featured in films like Black Panther (2018), The Woman King (2022), and Sinners (2025), the religious traditions and gods of Africa played a significant role in shaping our conception of religion and the world. This survey course examines the religions and deities of Africa as they were practiced in the past and as they endure in the present, in Africa and the diaspora. Throughout the class, we will explore how African-descended people debate the nature of the divine, the human, and the ecological, and how encounters between traditions on the African continent have shaped our understanding of religion itself.

Credits

4 sh

Course Types

Civilization; African/African-American Studies Elective; Interreligious Studies; Africa Regional Concentration for IGS Major

Course Outcomes

1. Recognize and describe the breadth and diversity of African and African Diaspora Religious
   Traditions and their relevance to African-descended folk.
2. Recognize and analyze the social constructions of various African-derived religious traditions over
   time within their specific contexts.
3. Recognize and describe how African and African-derived religious traditions hold cultural, political,
   and economic importance in Africa and among people of African descent worldwide.