AFR 340
African Diaspora Religions in the Americas and the Caribbean
Spring 2017
Division II
Cross-listed
GBST 340 / REL 340
This is not the current course catalog
Class Details
Over the last century, historians, social scientists, and religionists have labored to discover the meaning of African dispersal beyond the African continent and its accompanying spiritual lineages. What did it mean to move from the African continent (as opposed to the Australian continent, for example)? What theories of encounter sufficiently adjudicate the synthetic religious cultures of African descended persons in North America, South America, and the Caribbean? What are the cross-disciplinary methodologies that scholars utilize to understand African religious cultures in the Western hemisphere? Firstly, this course will consider a brief historiography of Africana Religious Studies. This background will inform the second and primary objective of the course: privileging knowledge, place, and performance as central lenses for thematizing and exploring West and Central African religious traditions housed in the Americas. We will cover diverse African diasporic religious traditions including Conjure, Dagara, Kumina, New Orleans Voodoo, Spiritual Baptist, Winti, and Yoruba (Candomblé, Ifa, Lucumí, and “Orisha-Vodu”). We will also explore other African diasporic religious sensibilities that transgress regional and institutional boundaries.
The Class:
Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 3002
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 3002
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation:
evaluation will be based on class participation, discussion leadership, two scholarly journal entries, and a final seminar paper of 18-20 pages (which will require working in stages on a proposal, an 8-page draft, and a 15-page draft)
Extra Info:
may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Prerequisites:
none
Enrollment Preferences:
Africana Studies concentrators
Distributions:
Division II
Notes:
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
GBST 340 Division II AFR 340 Division II REL 340 Division II
GBST 340 Division II AFR 340 Division II REL 340 Division II
Class Grid
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AFR 340 - 01 (S) SEM African Diaspora Religions
AFR 340 - 01 (S) SEM African Diaspora ReligionsDivision IIMeredith F. Coleman-TobiasW 7:00 pm - 9:40 pm
Schapiro Hall 1413002
Megamenu Social