African American Religion Tradition

This course is a survey of African American religions that exist outside the Black Church tradition. We will begin with a discussion of blackness in America through the works of W. E. B. DuBois and Franz Fanon, among others. This is meant to contextualize our later discussions. We will then look into African traditions that were adapted in the context of the enslavement of African peoples in the Americas. These include Vodou, Espiritismo, and Santeria, as well as a brief look at West African traditions that still are practiced in Nigeria and in the United States. Other case studies include Rastafarianism, The Nation of Islam, and Father Divine's ministry, which merged elements of Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Methodism, and proto-New Age spirituality. All of this is designed to expand our historical understanding of what African American religions have expressed, what they have meant to the people who practiced them, and what they have meant for defining America. Fulfills HU distribution. Fulfills DIV13 distribution.