A Decolonial Theory of Religion

Race, Coloniality, and Secularity in the Americas

Bibliographic Data

ID8205276
AuthorsAn Yountae (Department of Religious Studies, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume88
Issue4
Pages947-980
Publication date2020-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfaa057
OpenAlexW3098331624
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited53

This article offers a transatlantic, decolonial theory (or method for the study) of religion by insisting on the need to resituate the Americas and the transatlantic historical experience as primary sites for theorizing modern religion. Despite the surging interest in decolonial theory, its concrete connection with key topics and issues in the field of religious studies has not been systematically theorized, while decolonial theorists working outside the field of religious studies show little or no interest in the formative role of religion in the constitution of the system of modernity/coloniality. This article seeks to build a cohesive framework for a decolonial theory of religion in conversation with various decolonial, anti-racist thinkers writing from Latin American, Caribbean, and US contexts. By pointing at secularity as a key element of modernity/coloniality, the medium through which religion enacts coloniality, it raises critical questions regarding method and theory in the study of Latin American/Caribbean religions

Constitution · Conversation · Critical race theory · Critical theory · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Modernity · Modernization theory · Political science · Race (biology) · Secularity · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies · Theological Perspectives and Practices

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