This course focuses on Mexico and the Mexican Americas from 1517-2017 while making comparisons with both Peru and religions of the Caribbean. While Mexican-based religions thread through the entire course, students can choose to also work on religious practices, sacred sites, and migration stories from either Peru or El Caribe in comparative perspective. We study emerging cult and folk hero worship such as Santa Muerte and Martin Valverde. We examine symbols, root paradigms, saints, health practices, miracles, and migration by integrating archaeological, artistic, documentary, and ethnographic source materials and novels. Methods from anthropology, history of religions, religion, and literature are used to study race mixture, architecture, women's roles, transculturation, liberation theology, and plastic arts. An innovation in the course is the exploration of ways music and current musical trends such as reggaton, rap and narco corridos reflect religious devotions.
