OVERVIEW

This course provides the critical tools to re-examine the history of Christianities through the lens of race, racial thought, processes of racialisation, racism, and anti-racism from a transatlantic perspective.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to apply the categories of race, racism, and anti-racism to the study of religious history, restoring their hermeneutical centrality and paying particular attention to Christian cultures. The goal is to familiarize students with the transnational approach; to critically navigate the debate on racial identities, racism, and anti-racism; and to develop appropriate tools for rereading, in light of this perspective, the history of Christian churches and the intertwining of religion and politics in contemporary times.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This course aims to:

• Provide students with an understanding of the main historiographical and methodological issues concerning the category of race in the modern and contemporary ages.
• Identify the role of religions, particularly Christian denominations, in the historical development of racial thought, racism and anti-racism as evolving phenomena.
• Analyse the processes of racialisation that have shaped Christianities in the modern and contemporary eras.
• Apply the interpretative tools acquired during the course to the study of specific case studies and thematic issues concerning the relationship between race and religion.
• Develop skills in the analysis and critical interpretation of sources for the religious history of racism and anti-racism, including print, documentary, iconographic, and audiovisual sources.
• Acquire transferable skills related to collaboration and group work.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of, and critically discuss, the main historiographical and methodological issues relating to the history of race-thinking, processes of racialisation, racism and antiracism, with particular attention to the discourses produced by Christianities in the modern and contemporary periods.
2. Navigate the scholarly literature and apply the interpretative frameworks introduced during the course. This includes demonstrating an understanding of key concepts such as racism, racialism, antiracism, antisemitism, anti-Judaism and philosemitism.
3. Analyse and critically interpret sources for the religious history of racism and antiracism (including press, documentary, iconographic and audiovisual sources), situating them within their historical contexts of production.
4. Apply the knowledge acquired to the analysis of specific case studies.
5. Use appropriate disciplinary terminology to present and discuss themes and issues relating to the interconnected history of Christianities and race-thinking.
6. Collaborate effectively in group activities, demonstrating listening skills, constructive communication and an openness to engaging with diverse perspectives (social competence – advanced level).
7. Demonstrate independent judgement, a collaborative attitude and the ability to develop well-reasoned syntheses based on different historiographical interpretations (project management competence – basic level).

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists primarily of lectures, which will include class discussions, close analysis of texts and visual sources. Interacting with the teacher and fellow students is an integral part of the teaching method, intended to foster critical thinking, consolidate knowledge and develop proficiency in the disciplinary language of the field.

Regular attendance is therefore strongly recommended.

Classes will be held in person. Students who formally request alternative arrangements at the beginning of the course due to specific circumstances (e.g. working students or those who are objectively unable to attend in person) will be permitted to follow the course remotely via Microsoft Teams (live streaming and recorded lectures). Students who choose this option will be considered non-attending for all purposes, including examination requirements and assigned readings.

Information and course materials will be made available via the online platform, AulaWeb.

------------------------------------

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA):

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA) can find information regarding support services, compensatory tools, accommodations and specific aids in the following document: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica .

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Drawing on insights from the transatlantic racial turn, this course challenges the cliché that Christianity is an inherently universalist, race-blind faith largely insensitive to racial hierarchies. The course aims to reinsert the category of 'race' into the history of the churches by examining it as a cultural construct that different Christian figures helped produce, reshape and, ultimately, contest as opponents of racism, beginning in the 1930s and especially from the 1960s onwards.

The lectures will explore the relationship between the ‘Christian archive of race’ — the deas, categories, images and practices through which human groups have been classified and hierarchised — and racist political projects. Beyond the ongoing debate between continuist and modernist interpretations, scholarship has emphasised the fluidity of the distinction between religious otherness and natural difference, which is defined as a set of unique hereditary traits passed down through generations. In this regard, scholars have spoken of a race-religion constellation and religio-racial theories. Christian traditions have contributed to the essentialisation of identity by portraying certain groups as backward, dangerous or, at least contingently, irredeemably different. Religious classifications thus became intertwined with those based on innate or biological conceptions of human difference. The inferiority of infidels and ‘pagans’ in relation to ‘Christian supremacy’ was often conceived as a hereditary defect that was both remediable and a source of suspicion. Representations of Jews, Muslims, people of African descent and ‘savage’ indigenous populations combined religious, cultural and somatic traits. Moreover, these theologies of subordination helped lay the foundations for the scientific legitimisation of discrimination. At the same time, however, some Christian minorities used racial pride as a strategy for emancipation.

The course aims to provide a historical and critical examination of these complex dynamics through five interconnected themes.

1. The long-term development of race-thinking before racism, with special reference to anti-Jewish and anti-Black prejudices.
2. The contribution of Christian cultures to the emergence of the dialectic between racism and anti-racism (both neologisms of that period) from the 1930s onwards, through the intense circulation of words and categories between Europe and the United States. Particular attention will be devoted to historical semantics and conceptual history.
3. The emergence and development of religio-racial movements and identities, particularly among African American minorities.
4. The development of the modern (Western) concept of religion, which was formed between the 18th and 20th centuries within academic and popular culture, and incorporated racialist assumptions, Orientalist interpretations and anti-Judaic stereotypes.
5. The development of various forms of Christian anti-racism in propaganda, missionary activity and organised activism, which were not entirely free from racialist assumptions themselves. Examples include the Negro Apostolate, 'interracialism', the colour-blind model associated with the Civil Rights Movement, countercultural radicalism (including Black Nationalism and Black Theology), and philosemitism.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Reference book

• G. Fredrickson, Breve storia del razzismo, Rome, Donzelli, 2005 (or. ed. Racism. A Short History, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2002, revised ed. 2016).

B. Slides and course materials made available on Aulaweb.

C. Monographs or collections of essays (links are provided where available in Open Access):

• E.J. Blum - P. Harvey, The Color of Christ. The Son of God & The Saga of Race in America, Chapel Hill (NC), The University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
• M. Caponi (ed.), Christianity and the Racial Turn: Three Historiographical Insights, monographic section of «Annali di storia dell’esegesi», XLII, 1, 2025, pp. 171-277 + Id., Becoming Antiracist: Post-Vatican II Catholicism and the “Sin of Racism”, in C.E. Clifford - K.M. Colberg - M. Faggioli - P. Hahnenberg (eds.), The Legacy and Limits of Vatican II in an Age of Crisis, Collegeville (MN), Liturgical Press, 2025, pp. 253-272 + Id., Black Martyrs, Past and Present: Racial Violence, Christian Imagination, Secular Meanings, in M. Paiano (ed.), Violenza sacra, II: Guerra santa, sacrificio e martirio in età contemporanea, Roma, Viella, 2022, pp. 243-298, https://www.viella.it/libro/9788833138916/toc/6252 + Id., Antirazzismo cattolico e questione nera nell’Italia del secondo dopoguerra, in F. Cassata - G. Schwarz (eds.), Per una storia dell’antirazzismo nell’Italia repubblicana: problemi e ipotesi di ricerca, special issue of «Italia Contemporanea», LIII, 2021, 297 bis, pp. 17-54, https://journals.francoangeli.it/index.php/icoa/article/view/13406 .
• Ph. Chenaux, La fine dell’antigiudaismo cristiano. La Chiesa cattolica e gli ebrei dalla Rivoluzione francese al Concilio Vaticano II, Bologna, Marietti1820, 2025 (or. ed. La fin de l’antijudaïsme chrétien. L’Église catholique et les Juifs de la Révolution française au concile Vatican II, Paris, Cerf, 2023).
• J. Connelly, From Enemy to Brother. The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933-1965, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 2013.
• M.J. Cressler, Authentically Black and Truly Catholic. The Rise of Black Catholicism in the Great Migration, New York, New York University Press, 2017.
• A.T. Davies, Infected Christianity. A study of Modern Racism, Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988.
• T. Dell’Era, Anti-Jewish Prejudices, Antisemitism, Racism, and the Catholic Church’s Attitudes during the Shoah, in S. Unger-Alvi - N. Valbousquet (eds.), The Global Pontificate of Pius XII. War and Genocide, Reconstruction and Change, 1939-1958, New York-Oxford, Berghahn Books, 2024 + Id., Chiesa cattolica, razzismo, antisemitismo e fascismo. Le lettere dell’agosto 1938 tra Giovanni Cazzani, vescovo di Cremona, e Roberto Farinacci, gerarca fascista, «Giornale di storia», X, 28, 2018, pp. 1-129, https://www.giornaledistoria.net/saggi/articoli/chiesa-cattolica-razzismo-antisemitismo-fascismo-le-lettere-dellagosto-1938-giovanni-cazzani-vescovo-cremona-roberto-farinacci-gerarca-fascista/ + Id., Razza, in A. Prosperi - J. Tedeschi – V. Lavenia (eds.), Dizionario Storico dell’Inquisizione, III, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2010, pp. 1300-1302 + R. Perin, Insegnare la religione contro il razzismo: le istruzioni della Santa Sede, in L. Caimi - G. Vian (eds.), La religione istruita nella scuola e nella cultura dell’Italia contemporanea, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2013, pp. 167-189.
• D. Dubuisson, The Invention of Religions, Bristol, Equinox, 2019 (or. ed. L’invention des religions. Impérialisme cognitif et violence épistémique, Paris, CNRS, 2019).
• C.J. Evans, The Burden of Black Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Id., A Theology of Brotherhood. The Federal Council of Churches and the Problem of Race, New York, New York University Press, 2024.
• C. Facchini (ed., Antisemitismo e chiesa cattolica in Italia (XIX-XX sec.). Ricerche in corso e riflessioni storiografiche, dossier of «Storicamente», VII, 2011, https://storicamente.org/dossier-doss_antisemitismo_chiesa/ + Ead., Le metamorfosi di un’antica ostilità. Antisemitismo e cultura cattolica nella seconda metà dell’Ottocento, «Annali di storia dell’esegesi», XXVII, 1, 2010, pp. 187-230 + G. Miccoli, Antiebraismo, antisemitismo : un nesso fluttuante, in C. Brice - G. Miccoli (eds.), Les racines chrétiennes de l’antisémitisme politique (fin XIXe-XXe siècle), Rome, École Française de Rome, 2003, pp. 3-23, https://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0223-5099_2003_act_306_1_7363 .
• M.T. Fattori (ed.), Stigma, Discrimination, Birth. “Racisms” and their dis/connection with the Christian experience, monographic section of «Cristianesimo nella storia», XLII, 3, 2021, pp. 699-920.
• E.A. Foster, African Catholic. Decolonization and the Transformation of the Church, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 2019.
• K. Gerber, Christian Slavery. Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.
• G. Ghedini, Da «selvaggi» a «moretti». Schiavitù, riscatti e missioni tra Africa ed Europa (1824-1896), Firenze, Firenze University Press, 2023, https://books.fupress.com/catalogue/da-selvaggi-a-moretti/12978
• K. Gin Lum, Heathen. Religion and Race in American History, Cambridge (MA)-London, Harvard University Press, 2022.
• E.S. Glaude jr., Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2000.
• R.A. Goetz, The Baptism of Early Virginia. How Christianity Created Race, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 2012.
• S. Heschel, The Aryan Jesus. Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2008.
• W.J. Jennings, The Christian Imagination. Theology and the Origins of Race, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2010.
• K.J. Johnson, One in Christ. Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice, New York-Oxford, University Press, 2018.
• T. Keel, Divine Variations. How Christian Thought Became Racial Science, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2018.
• C. Kidd, The Forging of Races. Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World (1600-2000), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• S.M. Leon, An Image of God. The Catholic Struggle with Eugenics, University of Chicago Press, 2013.
• M.E. Martinez, Genealogical Fictions. Limpieza de Sangre, Religion and Gender in Colonial Mexico, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2008.
• D. Menozzi, «Giudaica perfidia». Uno stereotipo antisemita fra liturgia e storia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2014.
• P. Naso, Martin Luther King. Una storia americana, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 2021.
• M. Newman, Desegregating Dixie. The Catholic Church in the South and Desegregation, 1945-1992, Jackson (MS), University Press of Mississippi, 2018.
• D. Nirenberg, Antigiudaismo. La tradizione occidentale, Rome, Viella, 2016 (or. ed. Anti-Judaism. The Western Tradition, New York, Norton, 2013).
• M. Olender, Razza e destino, Milano, Bompiani, 2014 (or. ed. Race sans histoire, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2009).
• A.J. Raboteau, Slave Religion. The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South, Oxford-New York, University Press, 2004.
• G. Rigano - A. Riccardi (eds.), La svolta del 1938. Fascismo, cattolicesimo e antisemitismo, Milan, Guerini e Associati, 2020.
• M. Teter, Christian Supremacy. Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2023.
• I. Veca, Il Discorso del Rabbino. Storia del plagio alle origini dell'antisemitismo moderno, Bologna, il Mulino, 2025.
• S. Walsh, The Religion of Life. Eugenics, Race, and Catholicism in Chile, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022.
• J. Weisenfeld, New World A-Coming. Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration, New York, New York University Press, 2016.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attending Students (9 CFU) are required to prepare the following materials:

A + B + 1 book/collection of essays from Group C.

Non-Attending Students (9 CFU) are required to prepare the following materials:

A + B + 2 books/collections of essays from Group C.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attending Students (6 CFU) are required to prepare the following materials:

B + 1 book/collection of essays from Group C.

Non-Attending Students (6 CFU) are required to prepare the following materials:

A + B + 1 book/collection of essays from Group C.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Week commencing 15 February 2027, according to the course schedule.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For non-attending students (9 CFU and 6 CFU), assessment consists solely of an oral examination.

Attending students may replace part of the exam syllabus with a written paper: sections A and C for those enrolled for 9 CFU, and section C only for those enrolled for 6 CFU. The paper, which must be between 15,000 and 20,000 characters in length, should be agreed upon in advance with the teacher and should take the form of a critical review of a monograph or a collection of essays included in Section C of the bibliography.

The paper must demonstrate the student's ability to critically analyse the selected text(s) and situate them within the broader historiographical framework explored in the course, relating them to the other assigned readings (Section B) and to the issues discussed during class.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written paper and the oral examination are designed to assess the knowledge and competencies acquired during the course.

Assessment will focus both on students’ understanding of the historiography of the relationship between Christianities and race in the modern and contemporary ages and on their engagement with the selected monographic topic. The achievement of the learning objectives will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

1. mastery of the topics covered in the course;
2.  ability to develop critical analysis and reflection;
3. ability to apply acquired knowledge to a specific topic or case study;
4.  appropriate use of the discipline’s specialised terminology.