Accidental Deification: A Conversation with Anna Della Subin

Ever since Columbus reported he was hailed as "a celestial being" in 1492, stories of unexpected apotheoses have haunted the modern age—arising particularly at times of imperialist invasion, nationalist struggle, and political unrest. From Haile Selassie to Prince Philip, men unwittingly turned divine have much to reveal about empire, race, and the relationship between politics and divinity, as HDS alumna Anna Della Subin argues in her recent book Accidental Gods. In conversation with Charles M. Stang, she will explore how deification has been both a means of liberation and a way to sanctify oppression; how accidental gods are present in the canonical texts of comparative religion; and how myths of European explorers mistaken for “white gods” imbued whiteness with a divinity still entrenched today.

Anna Della Subin is a writer, critic, and senior editor at Bidoun. Her essays have appeared in the New York Review of Books, Harper's, The Paris Review, and the London Review of Books. Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine was named a Book of the Year for 2021 in The TLS and an Editors’ Choice in The New York Times.

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