Religion and Spirituality in American History Syllabus
This First-year Seminar introduces students to American religious history and spirituality by focusing on how humans deal with death and the dead. Encounters with immaterial human subjects in North American history are somewhat distinct from communing and communicating with deities in a religionâs pantheon. They involve religious subjects performing ritual engagement with human beings across time and spaceâthose who have âpassed onââfor familial, social, and even political purposes. Religious uses of the language of ancestors, âmystical persons,â and concepts of martyrdom and âmortuary politicsâ invite reflection on the material impacts of spiritual subjects in this world for various groups. This course will familiarize students with various âSpiritualâ traditions in North American religious history, paying attention to the complex categories and identities of race and gender in living religious subjects as well as the deceased subjects they engageâthe dead who “talk back.”
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