Anthropology of Black Religions in the Americas
RELI 268
Fall 2010 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 387, LAST 268 |
This course examines Afro-Creole religions and cultural expressions in selected communities throughout the Atlantic world. How were religious communities created under colonial domination? Under what conditions were religions shaped, and what shapes did they take? How are African-based religions produced through aesthetics and the ritual arts of spiritual talk and sermons, song, dance, drumming, and medicine-making? How do these religions continue to survive, thrive, and, in some cases, grow in the current historical period? This course will pay special attention to the yearly ritual cycle and its attendant festivals: Christmas, Carnivals, Lent, Easter, saints' days, feasts, and pilgrimages, as well as the emergent spiritual and aesthetic traditions such as Capoeira and Rara. We will study Orisha religions like La Regla de Ocha, or Lukumi, in Cuba and the Latino United States; Candomble in Brazil; Vodou in Haiti; and Garifuna traditions and spiritism in Puerto Rico. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(AMST)(ANTH)(CBST-MN)(CEAS-Phil/Reli)(LAST)(RELI-MN)(RELI) |
Major Readings:
Karen McCarthy Brown, MAMA LOLA: A VODOU PRIESTESS IN BROOKLYN (Revised edition)
Paul C. Johnson, SECRECY, GOSSIP, AND GODS: THE TRANSFORMATION OF BRAZILIAN CANDOMBLE
Mintz and Price, THE BIRTH OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE
Joseph Murphy, WORKING THE SPIRIT
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Examinations and Assignments:
This research seminar prepares the student to write a major 16-20 pp. research paper on one of the religious traditions in the Black Atlantic world. You will be required to use at least two primary sources to investigate a topic that must be approved. For anyone interested in documenting some aspect of an Afro-Atlantic religion, the paper may be an ethnographic project. However you must demonstrate that you have the language skills and entree (proper introductions and access) to do fieldwork. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills a "Thematic Approach" requirement for the department major. |
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