REL 215 - Religion, Race, and Ethnicity

In 1999 Charles H. Long noted that “there is a complex relationship between the meaning and nature of religion as a subject of academic study and the reality of the peoples and cultures who were colonized…” This course seeks to explore that complexity through critical reflection on religion and race in three contexts: religion and ethnic reasoning before modernity; the intertwined emergence of religion and race as elements of the modern social imaginary in Western Europe; and recent works on religion and race in the American context that directly engage religious studies research methodologies and critical theories.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): HUM 110, sophomore standing
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): CRES 225
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.