Religion 225CQ - Topics in Religion: 'Colonialism Then and Now: Religion, Law, and Conquest'

The conquests of 1492 cemented the theological and legal foundations for worlds of difference between and among individuals, cultures, and nation states. This course examines the ongoing historical and legal consequences of territorial conquests, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, political ideologies sustained by religious narratives of forging God's kingdom on earth, and anthropological theories of savage/civilized. In particular, students will explore the colonial legacies (coloniality) of "imperial religion" throughout the Americas and how they shape and impact, for example, conceptions of the human, gender, race, sexuality, religious practices and belonging, jurisprudence, sovereignty and citizenship, identities, and relations to the natural world and others.