To Do Right in the World: Religion and U.S. Global Activism

What does it mean to be a global citizen? To pursue social justice abroad? To bring religious faith and commitment to the task of building a better world? These questions have motivated American women and men for generations, and they continue to do so today. This class invites students to explore the U.S. history of faith, transnational activism, and non-governmental organizations from the nineteenth century to the present. We will examine the aims, experiences, and ideas of American missionaries, reformers, and relief workers: examples include U.S. Christian missionary women in China in the early twentieth century, Jewish relief programs in World-War-I Europe, American adoption agencies in Korea during the Cold War, and current debates about global feminist advocacy.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

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