Race and Religion in Postcolonial Societies

Course goals

• Advanced knowledge of the principal contemporary anthropological debates about religion, race/ethnicity, and globalization·      
• Understanding religious and racial/ethnic aspirations and struggles as multidimensional processes instead of unicausal phenomena
• Development of oral presentation skills and the chairing of a seminar discussion
• The development of academic writing and research skills by means of two papers

Content

This course explores social and cultural processes of contemporary globalization that are connected to race and religion. An important question this course addresses is whether and how colonialism and contemporary processes of globalization have had different impacts on ethno-racial and religious identities. The spread of modern notions of nationhood, race and ethnicity have led to profound political and social transformations and, in many cases, religion played a fundamental role. The course will focus on the globalization of the concept of religion as a sphere of life separate from politics, economy and law, and the effects this understanding of religion has had on religious and spiritual traditions and on ethnic and racial classifications in different parts of the world. We will examine how such traditions have been compelled to reinvent and to reposition themselves in light of modern concepts of religion. In addition, we examine which roles race and ethnicity play in such repositioning. Case studies will include research in South Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, where combinations of colonial legacies and contemporary media-driven globalization have resulted in more rigidly defined identities.


Schedule: For a week-by-week class schedule, please consult the course manual.  Commitment: Utrecht University has an official course commitment policy. This policy consists of:

• 80% attendance in seminars (only a maximum of 20% absence is accepted, irrespective of the reasons).
• Handing in papers on time; and
• Obligatory participation in seminars.

There exists no collective possibility to resubmit rewritten papers. Only students who have complied with all commitment policy requirements will be given one additional chance to submit a rewritten paper within three weeks after the course ended. Resubmission is not a right of students but a privilege given by the course coordinator on a case-to-case basis, and therefore require his permission.