ONLINE: American spiritualities didn’t emerge from one tradition, but were shaped through the collision, adaptation and reinvention of Indigenous cosmologies, African spiritual systems and European folk Christianity. This course explores how these traditions evolved over centuries of colonization into powerful sources of meaning, healing, resistance and national myth. We’ll follow the many ways spirit has been invoked in ritual, suppressed by law and claimed in acts of rebellion — all while shaping American identity and power. Session topics include: an introduction to foundational Indigenous, African and European spiritual traditions; an exploration of how occult knowledge and Masonic rites influenced the founding of the United States; an examination of the witch trials as Christian conjure’s suppression of vernacular power; a study of Black conjure and hoodoo as tools of survival and resistance; and an analysis of how settler religion and folk magick fused into a theology of white supremacy. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 45.
