A seminar course designed to involve Ethnic Studies students directly in the research process. Emphasis on examination and analysis of primary sources, methodology, and the development of theoretical constructs. A major research paper is required.

What does religion have to do with race in the modern secular West? Despite classical social theory’s prediction of religion’s demise in modernity, religion continues to persist, and even to thrive especially among racial-ethnic minority groups in the West. Race and religion have undergirded some of the most notable modern social movements in the United States, such as Civil Rights, Black Power, United Farm Workers, the Sanctuary Movement, and even White Christian Nationalism. This graduate seminar examines the changing expressions of religion and race as they intersect with modernity, capitalism, and secularization. We will engage with theories of religion and secularization by authors such as Max Weber, Charles Taylor and Talal Asad, and put them into critical conversation with historical, and theological works of religion and race today.

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