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Readings underlined in blue can be accessed directly from this website. To access readings underlined in red, you need to be logged in to your Sakai account (if you are not already logged in, you will be prompted to do so once you click on the link)
FRAMEWORKS Jan 19 (T): Introductions Go over syllabus; how do we study religion? No readings
Jan 21 (Th): Religion and the "other" Can religion exist in a vacuum? What role does comparison play in developing a definition of "religion"? Also: How to read a scholarly essay
Jan 26 (T): What are "world religions"? How did debates over enlightenment, colonialism, and race lead the West to develop categories of "religion" (such as world religion or folk religion)? Also: How to read a theoretical essay
Jan 28 (Th): Anthropology and religion What kinds of methods and assumptions undergird the anthropological construction of "religion"? What problems does anthropology have, either methodological or ethical?
Feb 2 (T): The Scope of Orientalism How did "the East" emerge as the shadow double of "the West," and role has it played historically in literature, politics, and scholarship? Also: How to read a scholarly book Reading: Edward Said, Orientalism (Vintage, 2003), 1-110
Feb 4 (Th): Orientalist Structures and Restructures To what extent was the material reality of "the East" necessary for--or even available to--Western power? Reading: Edward Said, Orientalism (Vintage, 2003), 111-97
Feb 9 (T): Orientalism Now How does Orientalist scholarship (or "area studies") remain potentially complicit in the Western construction and appropriation of a pliable "East"? How do scholars approach ethical representations of "others"? Reading: Edward Said, Orientalism (Vintage, 2003), 201-328
ENCOUNTERS Feb 11 (Th): Jews and Buddhists, I In-class screening of The Jew in the Lotus. Also: How to watch a documentary Reading: Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (HarperCollins, 2007), 1-127
Feb 16 (T): Jews and Buddhists, II Discussion of Kamenetz (book and documentary). Reading: Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (HarperCollins, 2007), 128-289
Feb 18 (Th): A critique of encounter Why is Western scholarship enamored of Tibetan Buddhism, and how has this relationship replicated, or disrupted, earlier Orientalist attitudes? Reading: *Donald Lopez, Jr., "Foreigners at the Lama's Feet," in Curators of the Buddha: The Story of Buddhism Under Colonialism (University of Chicago, 1995), 251-96; *Donald Lopez, Jr., "Introduction," Prisoners of Shangri-La (University of Chicago, 1998), 1-13
Feb 23 (T): A defense of encounter Why do some scholars insist on the value of encounter, and what is at stake in preserving religious encounter as a method of understanding and knowledge-building? Also: How to read an academic debate Reading: *"Symposium on Donald S. Lopez Jr.'s Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (2001): 163-214
Feb 25 (Th): Debate 1: Their Religion or Ours? Pro: We primarily study "other" religions in order to find something of ourselves. Con: We primarily study "other" religion for their own sakes.
DISCOVERY Can religious travel be conducted without religious intention? What does it mean to locate authentic religion in the past? Reading: Conrad Rudolph, Pilgrimage to the End of the World (University of Chicago, 2004) first debate write-up due
Mar 3 (Th): From Hajj to Homeland Can religious affiliation transcend geography, class, race, or gender? Should it? Reading: *Selections from The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Mar 8 (T): Satire of ourselves How does the religious terrain of "the other" become a mirror to decode American identity? What are the moral and political limits of religious tourism? Reading: Selections from Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, chs. 51-53; *Jeffrey Alan Melton, "Keeping Faith in Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad," South Atlantic Review 64 (1999): 58-80
Mar 10 (Th): Photoblog assignment: Imaging the other Has the "digital age" transformed how we picture ourselves (mentally and materially) in "other" landscapes? Can the internet be sacred space--and a site to represent the religion of the "other"? Online: Find at least four images (found in public, online sources such as flickr.com) of "other" sacred landscapes, and create a blog post with them in Sakai. Photos should be posted by Wednesday AM, and you are encouraged to leave comments on others' blog posts. first reflection essay due
Mar 15-17: SPRING BREAK
DISCOVERING THE OTHER Mar 22 (T): Passing pilgrim Where and how did European imperialists draw the line between religious selves and others? What do we discover about ourselves by "passing" as the other? Also: How to analyze primary sources Reading: Sir Richard Burton's Travels, ch. 1 and 2
Mar 24 (Th): Dark continents How is the "native" constructed at the intersection of the natural and the monstrous? Is religion a point of connection, or division between explorer and "native"? Reading: Sir Richard Burton's Travels, ch. 3 and 4
Mar 29 (T): Comparative religion Does the study of religion illuminate or obscure the discover of other cultures and societies? To what extent does colonial religion reflect and refract the concerns of Empire?
Mar 31 (Th): Native lessons What can we learn--historically, politically, ethically, personally--from the experience of natives, conquerors, and missionaries? How does "religion" fit into the founding of an Enlightenment, colonial nation? Reading: (1) Red Jacket, "Religion for the White Man and the Red" (also available in audio) or (2) *Original published version of the speech (with the Missionary's Request) from Monthly Anthology and Boston Review (April 1809): 221-24; The First Amendment; *Robert Michaelsen, "Red Man’s Religion/White Man’s Religious History," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 51 (1983): 667-84
Apr 5 (T): Research and Writing Workshop
Apr 7 (Th): Savage souls Can humans be people without religion? If not, on what grounds can we defend their rights? Reading: Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies
Apr 12 (T): In-class screening: Pocahontas; also, How to watch a Disney film
Apr 14 (Th): In-class screening: Pocahontas second reflection essay due
Apr 19 (T): Debate 2: Colonial religion? Pro: Religion primarily assisted the colonialist enterprise, and remains tinged with imperial ideas. Con: Religion resisted colonialism, and remains an important tool to question imperial ideas.
PASTS Apr 21 (Th): Pushing boundaries How do we teach children to reimagine religion, travel, and encounter in the premodern world? Reading: Smalley and Bascle, Adventures of Marco Polo second debate write-up due
Apr 26 (T): Medieval Encounters How does war shape the invention of religious others (looking especially at Islam and the crusades)? How difficult is it for us as moderns to appreciate, contextualize, or even overcome the intersection of violence, religion, and territory? Reading: *Paul M. Cobb, "Infidel Dogs: Hunting crusaders with Usamah ibn Munqidh," Crusades 6 (2007): 57-68; Excerpts from The Autobiography of Usama ibn Munqidh; Pope Urban II, "Speech at Clermont"
Apr 28 (Th): A holy land filled with others What can early Christian constructions of the "holy land" tell us about the origins of religious travel and the production of "the other"? To what extent can such histories reflect our selves? Also: How to read your professors Reading: The Piacenza Pilgrim; *Andrew Jacobs, Remains of the Jews: Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity (Stanford, 2004), 103-38
May 3 (T): Last things Discussion of final projects, and final thoughts Reading: No reading assignment
Final paper to due on Thursday, May 12, 2016, by 12noon
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