Gender and Religion in the Black Atlantic

Catalog description

This course examines the role and place of religion in the formation of Black Atlantic communities. From the 15th century to the contemporary period, we will look at the religious experiences of Africans and Afro-descendants in the Atlantic world (West and West-Central Africa, Europe, and the Americas). We will consider how the historical legacy of racism, slavery, patriarchy, colonialism, and imperialism, as well as Black agency, resistance, and ingenuity, has set the contours for defining and characterizing Black religions across time, space, and geographies. The course offers explorations of distinct traditions such as Orisha-Ifa (Yoruba), Vodun (Fon) or Vodou, Palo (Bakongo), Obeah, Hoodoo, Afro-Catholicism, Afro-Protestantism, Islam, and Espiritismo to inform us of the centrality of Black worship and religiosity in the study of Black Atlantic social, cultural, political, and intellectual history and contemporary life.