Undergraduate Course: Race and Religiosity (DIVI10120)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This module examines the diverse and complicated relationship between processes of religiosity and experiences of race and racialisation through cross religious tradition explorations, paying specific attention to indigenous and Afro-diasporic practices and the fluid overlaps between these categories. However, it also looks at capacious forms of spirituality beyond them. It draws from mostly contemporary but also some historical examinations and perspectives, bringing together insights from the humanities and the social sciences, interrogating social and cultural configurations, while situating them in a broader global genealogical lineage. |
| Course description |
Academic Description
This course offers an introductory exploration into the complex dynamics between racialisation and religiosity. It sets up a strong foundation in critical race studies and closely engages with a variety of disciplines such as Black Studies; Social Anthropology; Human Geography; Religious Studies; Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. This module will explore topics through a variety of empirical perspectives such as fine-grained ethnographic examples, examinations of material culture, and insights from the arts (music, dance, literature, etc.) whilst also offering an introduction to foundational theoretical considerations that include but also go beyond political sovereignty, questions of ontology, and globalisation.
Outline Content
In each week, the module will focus on a different theme (although they are all overlapping) and investigates how these themes speak to the socio-cultural formations and power structures of both race and religiosity, taking each processually rather than as static categories. The encounters and intersections between race and religiosity are multifaceted and require critical foundations in some knowledge of racial theory which underwrites each class, as such the module will also offer some preliminary background context to the study of race.
Student Learning Experience
The module has a programme of one hour lectures supplemented by a standard tutorial. The lectures will include as much discussion as possible as well as interactive elements. Additionally, the resources¿as much as possible¿will be multimodal, with the inclusion of short and longer videos, podcasts, and where applicable and possible, art exhibits (virtual and/or in person.) There will be a list of essential and recommended readings for each week and students are expected to read the texts before class.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
170 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Small written assessment - 10% (500 words)
Midterm (monograph review) - 30% (1500 words)
Final essay - 60% (3000 words)
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| Feedback |
Students will have the opportunity to receive regular and detailed feedback in reading responses, lectures and tutorials as well as a final essay plan in their final review session. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop a basic understanding of some of the relationships between race, racialisation and religiosity.
- Analyse and put into dialogue a range of examples relevant to these considerations.
- Familiarise themselves with some minoritized religious traditions, particularly along the axes of race and racialization.
- Recognise and evaluate the political and affective implications of the nexus of race and religion.
- Pursue lucid scholarly research with independence and creativity.
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Reading List
Beliso-de Jesús, A. 2014. Santería Copresences and the Making of African Diaspora Bodes. Cultural Anthropology, 29(3): 503-526.
Bjork-James, S. 2020.White Sexual Politics: The Patriarchal Family in White Nationalism and the Religious Right. Transforming Anthropology 28(1): 28-73.
Crockford, S. 2020. Thank God for the Greatest Country on Earth: White supremacy, vigilantes, and survivalists in the struggle to define the American nation In Religion and the Rise of Populism. Pp 48-66. Daniel Nilsson DeHanas and Marat Shterin, eds. New York: Routledge.
Hale, T. 2023. Indigenous Religious Traditions and the Limits of White Supremacy. Pacific Historical Review 92(3): 428-447.
Jean-Marie, V. 2023. Ethos of Blackness: Rastafarian Cosmology, Culture and Consciousness. New York: Columbia University Press.
Johnson, P.C. 2011. An Atlantic Genealogy of ¿Spirit Possession.¿ Comparative Studies in Society and History 53(2):393-425.
Meer, N. 2013. Semantics, scales and solidarities in the study of antisemitism and Islamophobia. Ethnic and Racial Studies 36(3):500-515.
Oommen, T.K. 2002. Race, Religion and Caste: Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives. Comparative Sociology 1(2):115-126.
Otero, S. and Toyin Falola. 2013. Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic Diaspora. Albany: SUNY Press.
Philogene Heron, A. 2022. Goodnight Colston. Mourning Slavery. Death Rites and Duppy Conquering in a Circum-Atlantic City. Antipode: A Journal of Radical Geography 54(4): 1251-1276.
Perry, S. L. and Andrew L. Whitehead. 2015. Christian nationalism and white racial boundaries: examining whites¿ opposition to interracial marriage. Ethnic and Racial Studies 38(10):1671-1689.
Rana, J. 2007. The Story of Islamophobia. Souls 9(2):148-161.
Spillers, H. 1987. Mama¿s Baby, Papa¿s Maybe: An American Grammar Book. Diacretics 17(2):64-81.
Weheliye, A. 2014. Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics, and Black Feminist Theories of the Human. Durham: Duke University Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Enquiry
- Students will be invited to emphasise their analytical skill in the module, specifically the ability to critically examine course content.
- For example, for their assessments, students will have the chance and need to gather, evaluate and synthesise relevant sources alongside - if they so choose - conduct empirical research.
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
- Students will be given the chance to engage in some collaborative learning as well as, of course, independent learning. These grant students experience with team-work and development of interpersonal skills.
- Students will be afforded the opportunity to exercise personal and creative judgment in the study of religion and race. They will be encouraged to use these understandings to make sense of the world around them.
- This module also provides students with a space for cultivating sensitivity and awareness of minoritized religious traditions and the lived experiences of those who practise them.
Communication
- In order to perform in this module, students will foster communication skills in informal discussions meaning verbal communication will be frequent.
- Moreover, students will be required to convey complex ideas and claims persuasively and engagingly through the formation of compelling, evidence-based arguments.
- Assessments also provide the chance for students to strengthen their writing skills, particularly fluidity in prose and clarity of expression.
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| Keywords | race,religion,politics,identity |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alysa Ghose
Tel:
Email: alysa.ghose@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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