What if the study of religion started with the African American experience? Instead of privileging a specific tradition, this course examines the history of a people who came to a new world compelled to quickly learn the significance of "religion" itself. We will follow along by plumbing the depths of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, listening to … Continue reading REL 101 (WCH): Signifying Religion: An African American Worldview
Business Insider recently shared a thought-provoking video on the spread of religion around the world. Producer Alex Kuzoian used a spinning globe to map the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in under three minutes. A timeline of the last five millennia progresses in correspondence with the changing domains of each religion. Annotations … Continue reading Mapping Source-Places and the Roots of Religion
To be clear, I'm not against statistics. We can qualify "religion." We can quantify "religion." But words and numbers represent human relationships (and thus, politics). Religious studies is about striving to see them more clearly. The discipline doesn't have a monopoly on this. But it is our intellectual burden, and we take it seriously.
The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is an independent research organization focused on investigating the dynamics associated with "scriptures." The conversation takes serious the category's development and deployment in Western cultural politics, working to surface the very assumptions that it belays. Founded by Vincent L. Wimbush, the collaborative enterprise has as its mission the "excavation of … Continue reading Reflections on the ISS- Scriptures at Their Root
In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and charged with brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. News media swarmed the case, calling them a "wolfpack." The five would spend years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit before the truth about what really happened became clear. With THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, this story … Continue reading Watching The Central Park Five @Etowncollege
