African Diaspora Religions in Five Minutes
Edited by
Emily D. Crews [+–]
University of Chicago Divinity School
Emily D. Crews is a PhD Candidate in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her research considers projects of identity construction, maintenance, and negotiation in African and African diaspora religions, with a particular focus on gender and the body. In the classroom she thinks with students about major categories and ideas in the study of religion through everyday phenomena like friendship, fantasy novels, Greek life, and the Great Emu War of 1932.
Curtis J. Evans [+–]
University of Chicago Divinity School
Curtis J. Evans is Associate Professor of American Religions and the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago. His teaching interests are modern American religion, particularly since the Civil War, race and religion in US history, and slavery and Christianity. His first book, The Burden of Black Religion (Oxford University Press, 2008), was an historical analysis of debates about the role of religion in the lives of African Americans and the origins of the scholarly category of “the black church.” His research emphases are interpretations and cultural images of African American religion, examinations of religion as a force for and obstacle to social and political reform, and the question of how social problems become defined and addressed as moral problems at particular historical moments.
African Diaspora Religions in Five Minutes introduces readers to the ideas, customs, and peoples associated with what are commonly termed “religions of the African diaspora.” It is comprised of brief, readable essays phrased as answers to questions that those new to the topic might ask about African diaspora religions, such as:
What is “diaspora?”
Where are African diaspora religions located?
What is the relationship between these religions and the religions of Africa?
The volume covers a broad range of geographies, time periods, and traditions, from Santeria in colonial Cuba to nineteenth century Haitian Vodun to African American Christianity in the twenty-first century United States, and considers those topics from the points of view of history, anthropology, theology, and literary studies. Essays are written by specialists in the area and provide readers with conceptual frameworks and source suggestions that enable further research. Ultimately, this volume illuminates the ways that the study of individual religions might foster insight into the study of religion in general, making it an ideal resource for introductory courses or personal study.
Series: Religion in 5 Minutes
