Key Categories in the Study of Religion - Contexts and Critiques - Rebekka King
6. Signifying “Der Rassist” in Religious Studies and the Axes of Social Difference
Key Categories in the Study of Religion - Contexts and Critiques - Rebekka King
Richard W. Newton, Jr. [+]
University of Alabama
Richard Newton is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He is author of Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures(Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2020) and former editor of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion. Newton is also curator of the social media professional development network, Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations in Religion, Culture and Teaching (SowingTheSeed.org).
Description
This essay argues that religion and race are categories of analysis that are more politically charged than liberal/progressive academic rhetorics let on. I argue that rather than sites to champion liberation or inclusion, these terms should be understood historically as axes of social difference. Furthermore, social theorists should map the way these and comparable terms operate in the politics of identification, the framing of culture, and the obscuring of our own critical theorizing.