ClassInfo

Why are religions so important in the U.S.? A majority of our population practices some form of religion - from Christianity to Judaism and Islam, from Hinduism to Buddhism and Sikhism, from Native American practices to Wicca and esoteric New Age religions. Concepts like spirituality, fundamentalism, atheism, pluralism, and tolerance are debated regularly in the public square. Religious ideas and practices affect all of our lives whether or not we are personally involved in a religion.

This course will introduce students to the huge diversity of religions in the U.S., and provide several analytical tools to use in thinking critically about religions, religious practice, and their role in American society, politics, and culture. It will also impart an understanding of the interdisciplinary field of religious studies and provide a foundation for addressing questions pertaining to religions across several disciplines.

Religions are all about power - divine power, social power, and personal empowerment. Within most religions, power is unequally or differently distributed with regard to sex and gender, typically along patriarchal lines. In this course, we will ask questions about the distribution of power within religions, with particular regard to those who identify as cis- and LGBTQIA. How do religions oppress on the basis of gender? Do they empower on that basis? Do religions allow for or suppress gender norms and fluidities? Do they enforce the status quo or offer a vehicle for resistance or change? What is at stake for religious groups when gender issues arise?

This course presents a historically-based examination of the construction of gender ideals by religious groups in America (predominantly) and the role of gender in the transformations of religions since the 17th century. Our investigations will touch upon several traditions, including Protestantism (Puritan, evangelical) Catholicism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Vodou. We will focus on individuals, ideas, and practices that have threatened/challenged (witches) orthodox ideals and practices, advanced/led/transformed (seers) them, and embrace/modeled (saints) them. We will look at how gendered practices have shaped religious beliefs, practices, and experiences from the colonial period to the present, and we will flip the categories to explore how religions define gender - feminine, masculine, and LGBTQ.

Ø Gain knowledge of the history of women in the U.S. across several traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Vodou

Ø Gain knowledge of how religious constructions of gender have both oppressed and empowered women across these traditions

Ø 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

Ø Engage with ethical consequences of the historical situations and trajectories regarding these gender constructs

Ø Practice using writing to develop ideas and effectively communicate them

1.Have mastered a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry a body of knowledge about Hinduism in the Indian subcontinent, as noted above in the Class Description. The mode of inquiry you will be learning is humanist and historical. In matters such as religion, there is no simple body of facts to be mastered. Rather, by critically reading primary texts and secondary scholarship, you will learn to critically reflect on the debate amongst the various actors, and to recognize how actors' responses are shaped by their historical circumstances, and how we in our turn interpret events in distinctive ways because of our perspectives. For example, in studying the Ramayana, we shall see how questions of gender have become differently visible to devotees at various times, and how moreover contemporary scholars and feminists also differ amongst themselves about figures such as Sita or Rama.

2. Understand diverse philosophies and cultures within and across societies. In focusing on the historical development of Hinduism, this course will be especially attentive to Hinduism as an ethical framework that addressed and addresses questions of social life together amongst various groups, including lower castes and Muslims. So, for example, central to Hinduism is concept of dharma (religion/law/duty) articulated in the Vedas and Upanishads, rearticulated in the Ramayana and the Gita and the bhakti tradition, and then reworked again from the nineteenth century by modern reformers. This course looks at how the idea of dharma was shaped in the first millennium by encounters with Buddhism and Jainism, in the second millennium by encounters with Islam, and from the nineteenth century by an engagement with both Christianity and secularism. It thus explores how one important idea - dharma-- travels through time and space, morphing and changing along the way in response to historical, political, and social contexts. Moreover, students will not only will get a complementary perspective on how religion has developed in a situation very different from that of the United States; they will be constantly asked in class discussions to reflect on the readings in relation to their current and more familiar context.

3.Have acquired skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning. Most broadly, the course will cultivate the ability to question critically, which is the first pre-requisite for citizenship and for learning. More specifically, it will teach them to approach the concepts of ethics and religion thoughtfully. Here are three examples of how it will do this. First, it will bring out how canonical Hindu texts, in focusing on dharma, ask key ethical questions. To attend to these questions is to both guard against any easy dismissal of ‘religion' as superstition, and to throw into sharper relief the ways in which ethical questions are asked in the very different situation of the United States. Second, it will be attentive to the social context within which these questions are asked and even imagined; it will teach us to ask: what are the questions that cannot be easily asked or formulated within certain historical moments? Third, India is a case of a secular democracy where the place of ‘religion' is especially contentious: a strong Hindu nationalist movement is seeking now a more prominent place for ‘Hindu' values in the public sphere, and other strong secular movements (often also led by those who consider themselves Hindus) are opposing this. Class work will dwell on these themes, constantly encouraging students in discussion to reflect on the distinctions and relations between religion and ethics, religion and secularism, the private sphere and the public sphere.

This writing intensive course offers a wide-ranging introduction to the art, architecture, and material culture of the Islamic world throughout much of the world from the origins of the Muslim faith in the seventh century to the age of the early modern empires. Throughout the course, we will discuss and examine a selection of paradigmatic works of art produced in a range of media, to include architecture, painting, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, woodwork, and video. We will discuss the cultural, political and religious milieu in which these works were produced. In addition to questions regarding actual and possible intentions of patrons and artists, we will consider the social agency of these objects and monuments in an analytical manner. The material will be approached historically, geographically and chronologically; throughout the course the features and themes that unify the diverse artistic trends produced throughout the Islamic world will be discussed.

Course Structure & Requirements

Logbook (10%)

Weekly responses
(10%)

Exam 1 (10%)

Exam 2 (20%)

Exam 3 (20%)

Paper 1 (10%)

Paper 2 (10%)

Participation in your section (10%)