REL 3410 Religion and Activism

Religion and Activism explores religion's role in shaping social movements and activism and mobilizing people for social action. From anti-colonial resistance in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America to the Middle Passage, the Civil Rights Movement and the Movement for Black Lives in America, religion continues to configure the structure of social movements worldwide. This course identifies the socioethical foundations and individuals that propel these movements and considers how religion has often provided necessary building blocks towards resistance and liberation for oppressed peoples. Investigating influences across Christianity, Islam, and indigenous religions and highlighting critical historical figures, the course tackles a socioethical view of topics including abolitionism, reform, revolution, protest, and strategy as elements of collective action, social influence, and change against the theoretical backdrop of social movements and what they are/do.

Credits

4 sh

Course Types

Civilization; Advanced Studies

1. Students will demonstrate their ability to think critically about the socially constructed nature of that which can be categorized as “religious.”
2. 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.”
3. Students will identify the relationship between religion and resistance within religious doctrines, social interactions, and practices.
4. Students will recognize the roots and socioethical foundations of contemporary social movements and their connection to modern activism strategies.
5. Students will explain how influential religious leadership plays a crucial role in community social movements as a key catalyst for social change aimed at uplifting oppressed groups.
6. Students will examine how religion shapes activism, influencing movements that resist oppression and foster solidarity both within and outside religious affiliations, toward a collective strategy.