Africana Religions

The Africana Religions path trains students to take a transregional and multidisciplinary approach to the study of religious traditions on the African continent and in the African diaspora. This path is defined geographically so as to include the multiplicity of traditions practiced by Africans and people of African descent. Those traditions include primarily, though not exclusively, Indigenous African or African heritage religions, Islam, and Christianity. Attention is paid to the content and contexts of the traditions, and to their interactions, entanglements, and transformations in relation to one another.

Students will ground their work in at least one disciplinary approach within the range of humanistic and social scientific studies of religion, and engage such interdisciplinary frameworks as global Black studies, critical race theory, and postcolonial/decolonial studies. Students are expected to gain expertise in African and African diasporic studies, at least one religious tradition, languages relevant to their research, and theoretical debates within religious studies.

Collaborations with other GDR paths are encouraged and anticipated, such as: the Islamic Studies path or Global Christianity path for those seeking further specialization in these religions; the Religions in the Americas path or South Asian Religions path for those working on global African diasporas; and the Ethnography and Social Theory path, and the Practical Theology path, for those wishing to deepen their methodological or theoretical training in these areas.

Path Advisor

Devaka Premawardhana

Associate Director, Graduate Division of Religion.
Winship Distinguished Research Associate Professor of Religion

devaka.premawardhana@emory.edu

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