Abstract: The pioneering essays collected in this volume bring critical new perspectives to the interdisciplinary study of racial, national, and religious identities. The authors draw on original research in cultural anthropology, history, religious studies, American studies, and other fields, and draw inspiration from the loosely defined fields of cultural studies and post-structuralist critical theory. Their essays demonstrate that one cannot study categories of identity formation like race, nation, and religion in isolation, but must instead examine the ways each intersects with—and ultimately helps construct—the others. This innovative perspective sheds new light on the role of religion in defining the identities of diverse communities throughout the Americas. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the U. S. declaration of war on “barbarians” and “evil-doers,” Americans and others are struggling to understand the role of religion in global politics. Yet scholars and others still tend to believe that religious identities thrive only in “non-Western” societies. By exploring the ties between race, nation, and religion in the Americas, this volume forces us to reevaluate the reductive opposition between secular modernity and its religious others.

Keywords: race, nation, religion, collective identity, secularization, modernity, United States, the Americas, interdisciplinary, anthropology, history, religious studies, American studies, cultural studies, critical theory