Browsing by Author "Wiley, Anthony Terrance, 1979-"

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    America's Pastor: Billy Graham, The Civil Rights Movement, and Religion in American Politics
    (2020) Tortolani, Lucy; Wiley, Anthony Terrance, 1979-
    Billy Graham is a fixture in American history, as both a religious force and as social figure; to many he is a household name. Graham's tremendous popularity from the 1950s through the early 2000s, as well as his ability to reach millions of people worldwide, enables him to have an undeniable legacy. This paper indicates that while Graham's legacy is indirect and often unseen, it has been a driving force in American politics for decades. More specifically, this paper argues that Graham's influence during the Civil Rights Movement, his friendship with Martin Luther King, and his involvement in the White House have informed the way that religion and politics interact today.
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    Exploring How Diet and Nutrition Redefine Notions of Black Identity, Health, and Gender in the Nation of Islam
    (2016) Yellets, Jonathan Alexander; Wiley, Anthony Terrance, 1979-
    In this thesis, I explore how the Nation of Islam’s dietary regulations are used as an instrument that is intended to reinforce Black gender roles, strengthen camaraderie in a separatist framework, revitalize Black bodies, and free Africans Americans from oppression in the United States. I conclude that propaganda negatively depicting soul food, a diet that many Black people perceived as a form of racial pride, was used as a tool to oppress African Americans, and assisted in the formation of a marginalized masculinity in Black America, thereby subjugating the Black woman’s position in society. The Nation of Islam’s diet is practiced as a method of combating notions of Black oppression. The Nation’s leader, Prophet Elijah Muhammad heavily frowned upon the soul food diet, understanding it to be harmful to the sacred Black body and an illegitimate source of racial pride. For Black Muslims, diet is very much related to the understanding that Black people are made in the likeness of Allah, who has the form of a Black male. Because of this, addressing the issues of racial and gendered subordination involves the adoption of a sacred dietary practice that aids in their formation of a communal identity separate from Black Christianity, White America, the Black Consciousness Movement and Orthodox Islam. Muhammad attracted followers by promising that adherence to the Nation’s diet would ensure health and longevity. Additionally, it would foster growth in Black society by strengthening one’s identity as a Black Muslim and relation to God. During the Civil Rights Era, men predominantly became involved with the faith because it offered an alternative philosophy to the Christian movements of nonviolent protest that were understood as feminine. Blackness became associated with Islam and masculinity, while Whiteness was attributed to Christianity and femininity. In viewing the state of gendered Black identity in the mid-twentieth century, the Nation of Islam argues that Black men had become emasculated, impure, lazy, and were confused by White supremacy. Black women had become promiscuous and neglectful caretakers of Black children, inhibiting the advancement of the Black race. The sacred dietary customs were designed to help treat these shortcomings. Engaging Doris Witt, I explain how the diet ironically disempowers women. While Professor Elizabeth Pérez does not explicitly employ Witt’s argument, I find her research useful in understanding Witt’s reasoning. In the soul food tradition, it is the Black woman who takes pride and is recognized for her recipes that provide care and life to her family. Black Muslim women lose this recognition because they are no longer using the recipes passed down from their grandmothers. Instead, they are using the foodways instructed by Allah, which takes the pride women would receive for their unique abilities in the kitchen, and credits it to Him. Placing food studies authors Jennifer Wallach and Psyche Williams-Forson in dialogue with one another, I conclude that the Nation’s foodways aids in their formation of a separate community. Muhammad’s distinct dietary guidelines forged social connections and enhanced group unity in the same way that sharing a common diet strengthened camaraderie amongst Blacks outside the Nation of Islam. The Nation’s food habits redefine Black health for its partakers, making it a communal concern, as members identify with each other through sharing a healthy and sacred diet. Avoiding the unhealthy foods attributed to the soul food, nationalistic eaters demonstrate ideological fidelity and physiological allegiance to the Black nation and loyalty to Allah.
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    I Am Who They Want Me to Be: The Extent Portrayals of Moses in Film Document the Fragmentation of Institutionalized Religion in the United States
    (2016) Santay, Erick; Wiley, Anthony Terrance, 1979-
    Over the past few years biblical films have seemingly increased following the release of the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. Since then, topics ranging from the life of Christ to the life of Noah have gone to the box office, yet some feature very different versions of the narrative they portray on the big screen. With Moses, the character has seen the big screen since 1923 in the United States until recently in 2016. However, the versions of the character differ greatly from each other, with the latter deviating the most from the biblical narrative. This work explores the differences and deviations present, arguing that the character’s evolution in film is a reflection of a fluctuating stance of American unipolarity and a documentation of the fragmentation of institutionalized religion in the United States. Due to the events of the Cold War, the 1956 film The Ten Commandments featured a Moses who was adamant in his values of freedom and empathy, reflecting the beliefs of patriotic Americans as well as documenting the presence of organized Protestantism present to support the conflict against the atheistic Soviet Union. Once that threat no longer existed, signaled with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, globalization began to emerge with the ascent of US hegemony. With the influx of ideas from all over the world as well as the spread of free market standards from globalization, the 1998 film The Prince of Egypt presents a Moses who is conflicted between his past life and his newfound life during a time when new ideas conflicted with old traditions. Furthermore, the spread of free market standards created a culture of consumerism, subjecting religion to the same rules as any other commodity in a free market, thus accelerating its fragmentation even more. The 2016 film Exodus: Gods and Kings portrays a Moses who is not only conflicted but also dubious of the divine, reflecting a time when the culture of consumerism ushered by globalization has turned religion into a selective characteristic. In this, the film and the character embody selective religious elements while portraying the narrative of the Exodus in a rational manner, thus visually presenting a film that embodies the fragmentation of institutionalized religion in the United States. The three characters evolve as American influence changes while also presenting the increasing conflict institutionalized religion faces in a globalized world.
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    "QUEER SOUTHERN BEE-ING": EXPLORING BLACK SOUTHERN SAPPHICS' RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES IN DR. E. PATRICK JOHNSON'S HONEYPOT: BLACK SOUTHERN WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN
    (2021) White, Lauryn; Wiley, Anthony Terrance, 1979-
    In this thesis I look at E. Patrick Johnson's Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women as a primary text that offers a complex, deep understanding of the religious and spiritual lives of Black sapphics in the American South. This discussion is framed by a description of my personal connection with the material; specifically how the book helped me reframe my experience as a Black queer person who grew up in the South. By discussing non-normative scholarly accounts of Black religious experiences, I provide the reader with the necessary background information to acclimate readers to Honeypot. I explore the narratives of Alpha, Michelle, Lynn, Darlene, Sangodare, and Nancy and Malu in Honeypot to represent the wide range of understandings of sexuality, Blackness and religion showcased in the book. The themes emerging from this exploration are forgiveness, how one's identity as a Black lesbian can impact their connection with the church, the relationships between African religious practices like Ifá and the Black church in theSouth, and motherhood as religious. I finally use my analysis of these themes to propose changes the Haverford College Religion Department could make in their program to better support work like Honeypot.