MLT 284 - Popular Religion and Politics in Latin America

Course Units: 1

(Not Offered this Academic Year) In this course we will examine the connection between politics and popular religions in Latin America, taking a critical view of several of their manifestations without losing track of the language and “sciences” historically used to describe them. We will engage biblical, anthropological, videographic, ethnohistorical and cultural theory texts as well as oral histories and collective memories. The final goal is to tease out those ideas that have traditionally defined the terms in which we understand and explain the “popular” in religious behavior; to understand better the conflicted relationship between “popular” cultural and institutional spaces; and finally to understand why the evolution of popular religions in Latin America cannot be examined without also taking into account their political economy. CC: HUL, LCC