Religious Studies

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.

Religion and the Religious in Horror Films. Horror films deal with transcendence. They invariably are about worlds, beings, and paranormal experiences that go beyond what we know, what is "natural," and what is "real" in this beautiful but also terrifying world where we live. Horror films, through text, sounds, music, and pictures offer an "as if reality," something we can enjoy and ponder without necessarily believing in it as an absolutely true, real, and authoritative.

Animated films or anime in Japan are a fascinating part of pop culture that attracts a huge audience of fans. As part of a global leisure industry, anime can offer an imaginary space not only to entertain, but to explore key questions about spirituality, religion, and the sacred.

At the Far Eastern end of Asia, Japan has benefited over the centuries from a complex inter-mingling of indigenous and foreign traditions that gave rise to Japan’s unique religious heritage.

At the Far Eastern end of Asia, Japan has benefited over the centuries from a complex inter-mingling of indigenous and foreign traditions that gave rise to Japan’s unique religious heritage.

Shinto or the “Way of the Gods” has long been viewed as the “archaic indigenous religion” of Japan. This course explores how, in fact, Shinto is an invented religion that changed radically throughout modern Japanese history as it evolved from local cults worshipping kami to state Shinto and new religious movements in the pre-war period to its modern guise today as religious organizations independent of state control.

This class uses healing traditions as the lens with which to examine culture. During the semester students will have the opportunity to meet healers from around the world. In a typical semester presenters include a Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner, an Ayurvedic physician (from India), a shaman from Peru, an exorcist, a native American Healer an allopathic physician, new age healers, a Christian Scientist and others. This course cannot be used to fulfill the requirements for the biology major. Also offered as REL 412 and GS 412.