Course Description
An examination of the history of selected Caribbean religions from the European conquest to the twentieth century. Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, Jamaican Rastafarianism, and Spiritism will receive special attention. An exploration of the cultural processes (creolization, syncretism, etc.) that brought these traditions into existence and account for their social and political impact.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In addition to completing the reading and viewing the films
required of undergraduates, graduate students will be asked to:
(1) write two book reviews of the major texts used in the class;
(2) complete a 20-page research paper; and (3) present their
research as a lecture. Graduate students are also expected to
attend special discussion sections.
Athena Title
Religions of the Caribbean
Prerequisite
One 2000-level HIST course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of religion in the Caribbean by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of Caribbean religions shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race, ethnicity, religion, and modernity, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- 1. Defining the Caribbean
- 2. Religions v. Caribbean Religions
- 3. Catholicism and the conquest of the Caribbean
- 4. Las Casas and the religious critique of the conquest
- 5. Vodou and the birth of Afro-Caribbean religions
- 6. Vodou and the Haitian Revolution
- 7. Vodou as a belief system
- 8. Understanding and theorizing possession
- 9. The origins of Cuban Santeria
- 10. Creolization and the Orishas
- 11. Santeria in the U.S.
- 12. Santeria and the arts
- 13. Spiritism and Modernization: Kardec in the Caribbean
- 14. Conflicts between religions: "Religion" v."Witchcraft"
- 15. Spiritism in Brazil: religion in a modernizing nation
- 16. Approaches to the study of millenarianism
- 17. Modernization as a millenarian crisis in Brazil
- 18. Rastafari and Jamaican politics
- 19. Marcus Garvey and black liberation
- 20. Rastafari music and iconography
- 21. Protestantism in the Caribbean and Brazil
- 22. Understanding religious conversions
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
