Black Religions (360-0-20)
Topic
Black Religion & the Digital Humanities
Instructors
Kijan A Bloomfield
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-420: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Black and Caribbean Studies are vibrant fields in the digital humanities. The study of religion in the digital humanities, however, remains an emergent field. This course is an ambitious attempt at interdisciplinarity, or more aptly what Tracy Hucks and Dianne Stewart refer to as transdisciplinarity--inquiry driven research that transcends disciplinary silos. This course centers religion as the primary lens to excavate and recover representations of Afro-Caribbean religions and their North American cognates using archival sources, fiction, film, and art. Religion will serve as the framework to interrogate what counts as data, the sources in which we can locate this data, its deployment and (re)presentation. Our aim is to gain a landscape view of Caribbean
religious history through key moments and themes from the period of enslavement and what Rinaldo Walcott refers to as the long emancipation. The course will provide students the opportunity to explore current digital projects and learn digital tools to generate their own inquiries.
Learning Objectives
Introduce students to critical debates and theories on the study of religion in the digital humanities; ● Orient students to the theoretical and ethical imperatives of the digital humanities and the study of Black/Afro-Caribbean religion; ● Encourage critical engagement with multi-disciplinary source material; ● Deepen our understanding of the presences and silences about Black religion in the archive; ● Cultivate an appreciation for debates on the ethics, theory and practice of the digital humanities; ● Gain skills conducting inquiry-driven, transdisciplinary research.
Teaching Method
Class Materials (Required)
All materials are open access. Course readings will be uploaded to Canvas.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Ethical and Evaluative Thinking Foundational Disci
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Ethics & Values Distro Area