Title
African American religions, 1500-2000 : colonialism, democracy, and freedom / Sylvester A. Johnson.
ISBN
9780521157001 (paperback)
0521157005 (paperback)
9780521198530 (hardcover)
0521198534 (hardcover)
Published
New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Language
English
Description
xii, 424 pages ; 23 cm
Call Number
BL625.2 .J64 2015
Dewey Decimal Classification
200.89/96073
Summary
"This book provides a narrative historical, postcolonial account of African American religions. It examines the intersection of Black religion and colonialism over several centuries to explain the relationship between empire and democratic freedom. Rather than treating freedom and its others (colonialism, slavery, and racism) as opposites, Sylvester A. Johnson interprets multiple periods of Black religious history to discern how Atlantic empires (particularly that of the United States) simultaneously enabled the emergence of particular forms of religious experience and freedom movements as well as disturbing patterns of violent domination. Johnson explains theories of matter and spirit that shaped early indigenous religious movements in Africa, Black political religion responding to the American racial state, the creation of Liberia, and FBI repression of Black religious movements in the twentieth century. By combining historical methods with theoretical analysis, Johnson explains the seeming contradictions that have shaped Black religions in the modern era." -- Publisher's description
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 407-418) and index.
Black Atlantic religion and Afro-European commerce
On religious matters
Colonial governance and religious subjectivity
Stateless bodies, African missions, and the Black Christian settler colony
Black political theology, White redemption, and soldiers for empire
Garveyism, anticolonialism, and state repression of Black religions
Fundamentalism, counterintelligence, and the "Negro rebellion"
Black religion, the security state, and the racialization of Islam
Conclusion: Black religion, freedom, and colonialism.
