Beyond Man: Race, Coloniality, and Philosophy of Religion (Black Outdoors: Innovations in the Poetics of Study)

Beyond Man reimagines the meaning and potential of a philosophy of religion that better attends to the inextricable links among religion, racism, and colonialism. An Yountae, Eleanor Craig, and the contributors reckon with the colonial and racial implications of the field's history by staging a conversation with Black, Indigenous, and decolonial studies. In their introduction, An and Craig point out that European-descended Christianity has historically defined itself by its relation to the other while paradoxically claiming to represent and speak to humanity in its totality. The topics include secularism, the Eucharist's relation to Blackness, and sixteenth-century Brazilian cannibalism rituals as well as an analysis of how Mircea Eliade's conception of the sacred underwrites settler colonial projects and imaginaries. Throughout, the contributors also highlight the theorizing of Afro-Caribbean thinkers such as Sylvia Wynter, C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon, and Aimé Césaire whose work disrupts the normative Western categories of religion and philosophy. Contributors. An Yountae, Ellen Armour, J. Kameron Carter, Eleanor Craig, Amy Hollywood, Vincent Lloyd, Filipe Maia, Mayra Rivera, Devin Singh, Joseph R. Winters Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction. Eleanor Craig & An Yountae: Challenging Modernity/Coloniality in philosophy of Religion 10 Chapter One. Devin Singh: Decolonial Options for a Fragile Secular 41 Chapter Two. Mayra Rivera: Embodied Counterpoetics: Sylvia Wynter on Religion and Race 66 Chapter Three. Eleanor Craig: We Have Never Been Human/e: The Laws of Burgos and the Philosophy of Coloniality in the Americas 95 Chapter Four. Vincent Lloyd: The Puritan Atheism of C. L. R. James 117 Chapter Five. Ellen Armour: Decolonizing Spectatorship: Photography, Theology, and New Media 136 Chapter Six. J. Kameron Carter: The Excremental Sacred: A Paraliturgy 160 Chapter Seven. An Yountae: On Violence and Redemption: Fanon and Colonial Theodicy 213 Chapter Eight. Filipe Maiaalter-Carnation: Notes on Cannibalism and Coloniality in the Brazilian Context 235 Chapter Nine. Joseph R. Winters: The Sacred Gone Astray: Eliade, Fanon, Wynter, and the Terror of Colonial Settlement 254 Chapter Ten. Amy Hollywood: Response—On Impassioned Claims: The Possibility of Doing philosophy of Religion Otherwise 278 Contributors 296 Index 300 A 300 B 300 C 301 D 302 E 303 F 303 G 304 H 304 I 304 J 305 K 305 L 305 M 305 N 306 O 307 P 307 Q 307 R 307 S 308 T 309 U 309 V 309 W 309 X 309 Y 309 Z 309 Beyond Man reimagines the meaning and potential of a philosophy of religion that better attends to the inextricable links among religion, racism, and colonialism. An Yountae, Eleanor Craig, and the contributors reckon with the colonial and racial implications of the field's history by staging a conversation with Black, Indigenous, and decolonial studies. In their introduction, An and Craig point out that European-descended Christianity has historically defined itself by its relation to the other while paradoxically claiming to represent and speak to humanity in its totality. The topics include secularism, the Eucharist's relation to Blackness, and sixteenth-century Brazilian cannibalism rituals as well as an analysis of how Mircea Eliade's conception of the sacred underwrites settler colonial projects and imaginaries. Throughout, the contributors also highlight the theorizing of Afro-Caribbean thinkers such as Sylvia Wynter, C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon, and Aime Cesaire whose work disrupts the normative Western categories of religion and philosophy.0 Contributors. An Yountae, Ellen Armour, J. Kameron Carter, Eleanor Craig, Amy Hollywood, Vincent Lloyd, Filipe Maia, Mayra Rivera, Devin Singh, Joseph R. Winters Introduction: Challenging modernity/coloniality in philosophy of religion / Eleanor Craig and An Yountae -- Decolonial options for a fragile secular / Devin Singh -- Embodied counterpoetics : Sylvia Wynter on religion and race / Mayra Rivera -- We have never been human/e : the laws of Burgos and the philosophy of coloniality in the Americas / Eleanor Craig -- The Puritan atheism of C.L.R. James / Vincent Lloyd -- Decolonizing spectatorship : photography, theology, and new media / Ellen Armour -- The excremental sacred : a paraliturgy / J. Kameron Carter -- On violence and redemption : Fanon and colonial theodicy / An Yountae -- Alter-carnation : notes on cannibalism and coloniality in the Brazilian context / Filipe Maia -- The sacred gone astray : Eliade, Fanon, Wynter, and the terror of colonial settlement / Joseph R. Winters -- Response : on impassioned claims : the possibility of doing philosophy of religion otherwise / Amy Hollywood "Beyond Man offers models, methods, and new directions for the still nascent, long overdue conversation between philosophical studies of religion and critical studies of race and coloniality. The interdisciplinary contributors approach this work through philosophical, theological, historical, and aesthetic lenses. Euro-descended Christianity has historically defined itself by its Others while paradoxically claiming to represent and speak to humanity in its totality. The essays in Beyond Man disrupt the normative categories of religion and philosophy by rearranging presumptions about what constitutes philosophy of religion"-- Provided by publisher "The contributors to Beyond Man reckon with the colonial and racial implications of the philosophy of religion's history by staging a conversation between it and Black, Indigenous, and decolonial studies."-- Provided by publisher