2012–13 Religious Studies Department Activities and Events
Religion Interest Meeting
Date: Monday, February 25, 2013
Time: 8–9 p.m.
Location: Department of Philosophy and Religion Lounge Area, Ladd Hall, second floor
The study of religion is essential to have a clear understanding of today’s globalized
world around us. Religion is often the basis of many people’s cultural identities,
values and behaviors. With an improved knowledge and awareness of those around us,
our stride to reach our goals will be less problematic.
Come join us and speak with faculty and other students for more information.
Inventing the Fetish: Voodoo, Religion, and the European Thing for African Objects
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Time: 8–9 p.m.
Speaker: Elizabeth Perez
Location: Emerson Auditorium, Palamountain Hall
Dr. Perez (Dartmouth College) is a scholar of Afro-diasporic religions who has conducted
fieldwork among Lucumi communities. Her presentation will show how the European "thing"
(as in "inexplicably strong feeling") for African objects winds up creating the fetish
as a conceptual category (and constructs "fetishism" as a characteristic practice
of Africans). This act of classification then informs the construction of Caribbean
"voodoo" as the opposite of (modern, Western) "religion," a tendency that continues
today in current representations of African-based traditions.