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Who gets to be a human? Religion in colonial histories and Indigenous resistance
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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.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand the differences between colonisation, colonialism and coloniality
- recognise the role of religion and religious categories in the dehumanisation of colonised communities
- reflect on hierarchies of knowledge.
First Published: 04/03/2026
Updated: 04/03/2026
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