Who gets to be a human? Religion in colonial histories and Indigenous resistance

The global challenge of growing inequalities is intricately linked to the distinction made between those historically regarded as human and those who have not been. The division between ‘civilised’ and ‘non-civilised/primitive’ played a vital role in justifying the colonisation and enslavement of those who were deemed ‘lesser human’, ‘other human’, or ‘non-human’ at all, along with the perception of their lands as empty and waiting to be discovered, explored and governed. In this free course, you will explore how some religions and religious categories were conceptualised and employed in ways that dehumanised and criminalised colonised individuals and communities, many of whom organise and identify as Indigenous today. 

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course DA332 Religion and global challenges in the past and present.