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Course Info for RELG - 222 - 01, Fall 2022
Class number: 3240 Title: Voodoo Department: Religious Studies
Career: Undergraduate Component: Lecture Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 24 Current enrollment: 9 Available seats: 15
Start date: Tuesday, September 6, 2022 End date: Wednesday, December 21, 2022 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: TR: 2:55PM-4:10PM, MECC - 232 Instructor(s): Landry, Timothy
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities and Global Requirements
Course Description:
This course focuses on those religious traditions known collectively as "Voodoo." Students will examine powerful displays of spirit possession, rituals in which the ancestors raise from their graves to dance, and secretive ceremonies of devotion, healing, and resistance. Students will explore how Voodoo is practiced and in what ways racial tropes have contributed to the dehumanization of its devotees. With a focus on Benin (West Africa) and Haiti (Caribbean) we will juxtapose Western imaginations and fantasies of Voodoo to the real-lived experiences of practitioners. By examining historical and ethnographic accounts, students will learn how, despite racial stereotyping and anti-Africa sentiments around the globe, Voodoo has become one of the world's more important religions on the global stage today.