AMS 220 - Religion and Movements for Social Justice (4 Cr.)

AFR 220 RJ 220 Race, Power, and Perspective

The goal of this interdisciplinary course is to introduce students to an expansive, radical history of American Religions between the US and Latin America. We will explore micro-histories that showcase religion and spirituality not simply as agents of Western colonial dominance, but as tools that inspire and sustain movements for transformative justice and anti-colonial struggles. We will focus on spiritual traditions and interfaith activism vis-á-via movements for Black liberation, Indigenous sovereignty, immigrant justice, and leftist labor organizing with focus on the US and Latin America. Religion and Movements for Social Justice offers an introduction to themes and methods of American studies, Religion and Justice, as well as other disciplines housed within the Center for the Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies. This course counts as an Africana Studies course providing students with a Religious Studies framework through which to study people of African descent on the continent of Africa and in the African Diaspora.