Black Gods of Cuba, Brazil, and Beyond: The Orishas . RG ST 107
This reading-intensive course delves into the stories and histories of the gods called orishas, orichas, or orixas in the Americas, from their emergence as orisa among West African Yoruba groups to their veneration in Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad, the U.S., and elsewhere. The course pays special attention to their "mythobiographies" as communicated through divination verses and expressed in altars, dances, drum rhythms, food, and other material offerings (which ironically complicate any description of orishas as "gods"). Readings address the impact of transatlantic slave trade and racialization on the orishas? worship; analyze gender/sexuality in rituals of initiation and possession; and emphasize the voices of Black and AfroLatinx practitioners.
Prerequisites: Upper Division Standing
4
UnitsLetter
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeUpper division only
Level LimitLetters and science
College
Enrollment Trends
Grading Trends (2)
Rate My Professors (10)
Just horrible. This course had a lot of potential to be really cool, but Professor Perez assigns an insane amount of reading and essays for this class and yet the only credit you get is units, nothing for GE. She is confusing and has no clear directions or due dates for anything! She will check Gauchospace to make sure you're clicking on things too
Her lectures were unclear and hard to follow.
Dr. Perez is the best professor I've had so far. She made the class super interesting and the final and midterm were both take home. Everything is found in the readings and she is willing to go over your answers in office hours. She also offered lots of extra credit opportunities that were fun.
Not interested in RGST, but she made the class interesting. Good professor, lots of reading but I did not do it and easily passed the class because the lectures were very informative. 1 midterm and final, both were take home. They take a lot of time but if you just give solid, correct answers found in the reading you will get a good grade.
Janet Afary
3.8
William Elison
4.8
Vesna Wallace
3.4