Latinx Spiritualities ((3))

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the religious diversity of Latinx communities in the United States. We will pay close attention to the various ways Latinx devotional practices and rituals make religion meaningful and transformative. Through a series of case studies, this course will explore how religious and spiritual practices are shaped by issues of colonialism, race/ethnicity, class, gender, and migration. We will begin with an overview of the varieties of spiritualities and traditions practiced by Latinx groups and then proceed by looking at specific traditions including popular Catholicism, Marian devotion, mainline Latinx Protestantism, Pentecostalism as well as Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomblé, and Haitian Vodou. We will then circle back to a wider view in order to study the ways Latinx communities connect their spirituality to the larger social, cultural, geographical, and historical structures in which they are situated.