• Composante

    ETUDES SLAVES, HISTOIRE, ETUDES ANGLOPHONES

  • Volume horaire CM

    2h

Discipline rare

Non

Description et objectifs

Religion in the History of the United States

The seminar is an introduction to the study of religion, spirituality and secularism in the United States. The first semester
will invite students to think about religion as a historical phenomenon. The focus will be on the relationship between history
and religion, and on the role religion played in the development of the United States and American identity.
Several scholars have pointed out that religion was often left out in historical narratives. According to Jill Lepore, “it is a
blind spot of our historians” (Newsweek, 09/20/18). Throughout the history of the United States, however, religion has
contributed both to forces of diversity and fragmentation, as well as to forces of union and cultural homogeneity. Conversely,
throughout history, religion has been subject to new meanings and interpretations.
Before the rise of social and cultural history during the 1970s and 1980s, most American historians focused on
Protestantism and white heterosexual male leaders. Today, in contrast, historians tend to highlight transatlantic
connections, religious pluralism, issues of gender, and the agency of Native Americans, enslaved people, and women of
all races.

 

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Objectifs

The seminar will be organized both chronologically and thematically. Students will confront historiographical questions.
They will be invited to select, read and present relevant primary and secondary sources.

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Syllabus

Bibliography
Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (1972)
Catherine Albanese, America: Religions and Religion (1999)
Catherine A. Brekus. “Contested Words: History, America, Religion.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 1, 2018, pp. 3–36.
Jon Butler, “Jack-in-the-Box Faith: The Religion Problem in Modern American History.” The Journal of American History, vol. 90, no. 4, Mar. 2004, pp. 1357-78.
Jon Butler, Grant Wacker, Randall Balmer, Religion in American Life: A Short History (2007)
Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018)
Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan, ed., Religion in American History (2010)

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