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Prof.
E. McAlister (ext. 2289)
Religion
391/Af Am 280/ Fall 2002
T-Th
10:30-11:50
Goals of the Course
In this course we will examine aspects of the
interactions between "race" and religion in a
number of historical and social contexts.
We will place at the center of our discussions
the question of how "race" functions as a
prism through which people come to both understand and
experience their own religious life and that of others.
In examining "race," we will privilege
interpretations that emphasize: a) the construction of
"race" as a process in which power plays a
pivotal role; and b) means through which communities
form collective identities.
We
will read a wide range of historical analysis and
primary source materials from the
US
and
the
Caribbean
.
We will examine pro-slavery documents, missionary
works, analyses of anti-semitism, works on Father
Divine, Rastafari, Haitian Vodou, Jonestown, as well as
the contemporary US and terrorism.
Since I am co-editing a book on Religion and
Race, we will have the opportunity to read various
chapters from that forthcoming work.
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Requirements
Attendance
at all classes, completion of the reading assignments,
class discussion and weekly 1-page response papers
constitute essential components of the course and
count for 40% of the grade.
(Late response papers won't be counted.)
Response papers will be posted web board, which
everybody will read.
You must call to leave a message for me if you
will be or have been absent, and briefly state a
reason. You
will also write three 5-7 page papers for another 50%.
During the course of the semester you will give
an oral presentation on the reading material for 10%
of the grade.
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Required Reading
--Besides
the following books, all readings can be found in a
course packet at
Mail
Center
on
College
street
downtown. (Tel:
344-9339) Both
the books and the packet will be on reserve in Olin
Library. One
reading you will find as a web site on the internet.
--In addition, everyone should have access to a
copy of The Holy Bible, the King James Version.
If you do not have one, you can find it on the
web at http://ccel.wheaton.edu
Books: (available
at Atticus)
Karen
Brown, Mama Lola:
A Vodou Priestess in
Brooklyn
.
Berkeley
:
University
of
California
Press, 1989
David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: An
Interpretation of Jim Jones, the
Peoples
Temple
and Jonestown
Bloomington:
Indiana
University
Press, 1988
Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters:
Culture, Media, and
U.S.
Interests in the Middle East, 1945-2000.
Jill Watts, God,
Harlem
U.S.A.
,
The Father Divine Story
Berkeley:
University
of
California
Press, 1992
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