RELI 386 - Race, Religion, and Nation in America

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

If the political turbulence of the last few years has taught us anything, it is that the concepts of race, nation, and religion remain powerful tools to organize antagonistic conceptions of “America.” This course aims to equip students with the theoretical tools necessary to understand these mobilizations: how they serve to organize some social bodies and preclude the formation of others. This course takes as its starting point the perspective of postcolonial theorists. It then proceeds to engage with American scholars, whose conceptions of the normative and descriptive dimensions of “America” differ markedly. We engage with the central issue of state violence and terrorism, and then look at recent scholarship that may upend our intuitions about how our three foci relate to current American projects.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS