Indigenous Religions S America

Catalog description

This class will explore the central religious beliefs and practices of diverse indigenous communities in South America both before and after European colonization. Students will discuss such themes as the nature and structure of the created world (cosmology) including communal origin myths, the nature of the gods, spirits and divine figures worshipped and revered, and the form and function of rituals and ritual spaces. Along the way, the class will wrestle with broader questions in the study of religion, such as what exactly can be learned from the archaeological record or from colonial accounts of indigenous belief and practice, religious syncretism, the authenticity of drug induced religious experience, and the relationship between religious authority and social or political power. International Business course.