Essay #1
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Religion
and Social Constructions of "Race"
Paper #1
Write a 4-6 page
essay in which you use the theories of Berger and/or
Higginbotham to perform a reading of one or two of the texts
on the syllabus (up to and including October 26).
Do not use more than two texts but rather focus on
one or two only. Discuss
the ways in which religious actors have deployed race as a
social fact in order to understand their world.
Do not spend too much time recapitulating theory, but
rather use the theory to read the other text.
In other words, discuss your text in terms of the
theory. How does
the work of Berger or Higgenbotham help you understand the
text?
Your essay should focus on both analysis and on
writing, as I will be interested in both form and content.
Lay out your argument in the beginning few paragraphs
and then proceed to illustrate and embellish it.
Before you begin, you must read the information on
writing papers at [http://www.wesleyan.edu/writing/workshop/]
This information is also available in a booklet from the
Writing Workshop office, 279 Court Street, Room 102.
Papers are to be
1400-1600 words, typed using 12 point Palatino font,
double-spaced, numbered, and stapled, with a heading at the
upper left corner stating your name.
In addition, create a title for your essay.
When you quote from a source, use footnotes or
endnotes according to the style of your major’s
discipline. (If
you are unsure, follow Higginbotham's example).
Papers are due in class on October 1st in class. No
extentions will be granted, and that one letter grade per
day will be deducted for any late papers.
But if you don’t get the paper done by class time, come
to class anyway! It
is a film screening that I expect you all to attend.
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Essay #2
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Write
a 6 page essay on one of the following topics.
The paper is due on Friday, April 12th, by 4:00
in my box in the Religion Department, corner of Church and
High.
1. Consider Higgenbotham’s analysis of processes of
racialization as both oppressive (when used to exclude)
and liberating (when used to construct community).
In light of these simultaneous processes, discuss
the ways in which African Americans in the US or the
Caribbean have used race in their own constructions of
religion. If Higgenbotham had used religious cases in her
article, what would she have said?
I suggest you use only one or two of the cases we
read. (Don’t try to use more than two or your essay will
be too general).
2. Consider the materials on the racialization of Jews in the
US. You might
discuss one or more of the following themes:
Applying Higgenbotham to Sander Gilman, discuss how
Jews in the US and Europe have responded to anti-semitism.
Are Jews white?
To what extent does anti-semitism fit into the model of
‘paranoid styles of mind’ towards other groups?
How is anti-semitism different from hatred towards
other groups?
3. Father Divine and Jim Jones both created social
movements that repudiated American systems of
racialization. Compare
the historical contexts, religious constructions and
strategies of these thinkers.
How did they use the Bible?
How did they view the millennium?
How were they involved in externalizing new
realities? (Berger)
Why did their followers internalize them?
What are the theoretical and practical implications
of refusing to acknowledge "race" in America?
What would Higgenbotham have to say about these two
religious movements and the way they responded to raced
America?
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Essay #3
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Write
a 6 page essay on one of the following topics.
The paper is due on Friday, May 10th, by 4:00
in my box in the Religion Department, corner of Church and
High.
1. Many, if not most, of the religious groups we have studied
have appropriated the identity of the ancient people of Israel.
Some groups do this figuratively (Afro-Baptist
faith) and identify with the Isrealites as slaves released
from bondage. Others
(Rastas) identify with the enslaved Hebrews in a more
explicit way, turning themselves into one of the lost
tribes. Still
others (Puritans) focus on the idea of the New World as
the New Jerusalem. Some
(Identity Christians) appropriate the Israelite identity
and cast contemporary Jews as “false.”
Choose
a limited number of texts (two works best) and discuss the
ways in which different theologies have used the House of
Isreal for their own purposes. Some questions you could consider, among others, are:
Why do groups choose this identity and what happens
to their status when they do so?
How do they view race?
lineage? messiah?
the millennium?
What happens to the position of contemporary Jews
in the process? Are these strategies likely to build inclusionary or
exclusionary politics with regards to other groups?
2. Using the articles we will read on race and film, perform a
critical analysis of an American film. Discuss the ways in
which religion and race are used in film.
How does race function in this film for the
characters? How
are their lives shaped by the racialized system of the
U.S.? How do
they use religion to both construct meaning and create
community? Explore
the degree to which affiliation with religion facilitates
or forecloses possibilities for creating communal
identities based on things other than race.
Also, how does the film (filmmakers, etc) use race
and religion as a construct?
Is the film’s use of race/religion different from
the characters’ use of these social facts?
Please
contact me to approve the film:
I want to make sure it will work for a successful
paper. Recommended
films are: Paris
is Burning, Go Tell it on the Mountain, The Apostle, The Believers,
Angel Heart, Serpent and the Rainbow, and Beloved.
3. You may choose one of the paper # 2 topics that you did NOT
do. See post
containing those questions.
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