ClassInfo

Do religions oppress women? Do they empower them? Do religions allow for or suppress gender norms and fluidities? Do they enforce the status quo or offer a vehicle for resistance or change? Gender is a fundamental category addressed by all religions. From Hindu goddesses like Kali and Lakshmi, to Christian saints like Mary and Anne, and Muslim leaders like Aisha, female figures populate many traditions. Some explicitly serve as idealizations of womenhood, others have more complex functions and interpretive trajectories. Beyond such idealized figures, also lie deep histories of social negotiations over gender roles, power, and the limits of personal expression. This course willexamine the history of women and religion in America using gender as our category of critical analysis. Our investigations will touch upon several traditions, including Protestantism (Puritan, evangelical) Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, and Vodou. It will explore individuals, ideas, and practices that have threatened/challenged (witches), advanced/led/transformed (seers), and embrace/modeled (saints) orthodox ideals and practices. We will look at how both women and gender ideologies have influenced religious beliefs and practices from the colonial period to the present, and we will flip the categories to explore the many ways that religion influences and works to define gender - feminine, masculine, and GLBT.
Because no person's experience of religion or gender occurs outside of other central components of identity, particularly ethnicity and race, these factors will also be taken into account in our explorations. The course will be divided into three overlapping units focused on specific themes across two or more traditions: I. Theology, Gender and Authority; II. Sexuality, Marriage, Family Roles and Religion; III. The Body, Suffering, Healing, and Religious Authority.

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To gain an understanding of the history of women in the U.S. across several traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Vodou

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To become familiar with examples of how religious constructions of gender have both oppressed and empowered women across these traditions

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To develop a set of analytical categories and methods that help shed light on the development and ramifications of religious constructions of gender and gender roles

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To engage with ethical consequences of the historical situations and trajectories regarding these gender constructs

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To develop an analytical perspective on how religious transformations regarding gender occur

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To develop a critical attitude towards one's own writing skills

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To work on using writing to develop ideas and effectively communicate them