Spring 2014

 

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Religious Studies 1G. Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism (4 units)
Naomi Janowitz

Lecture: TR 9:00-10:20A, 6 Olson

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the academic study of religion. The course is introductory and no prior academic study of religion is expected. As a General Education course, the requirements emphasize the development of skills in critical reading, analytic writing and oral argumentation.

We begin the course with a set of introductory questions: What is myth? What is ritual? What is a symbol? From there we turn to six specific cases of secrecy in various religious tradition. In tandem with these cases we will carefully read major scholarly works on religion.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities, Domestic Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, Visual Literacy, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

• Euripides, Bacchae, translated by Paul Woodruff  (Hackett Publishing Co., 1998)
• Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing [2nd Edition]  (W.W. Norton & Company, 2009)
• Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, translated by Carol Cosman  (Oxford University Press, 2008)
   

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Religious Studies 30. Religions of South Asia (4 units)
Mark Elmore

TR 10:00-11:50A
230 Wellman
CRN 42738

Course Description: The goal of this course is to introduce students to the vibrant religious traditions of South Asia. The course will examine Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and Jain traditions as well as the ancient and modern contexts in which they are situated. In order to guide our inquiries, we will focus on four major historical periods when the structure and function of daily life in South Asia changed radically (the emergence of asceticism, the definition and defense of tradition, communal interrelations, and confrontations with modernity.).  Each of these innovations contributed significantly to what are now recognized as the religions of South Asia.

Among other things, this course seeks to reexamine the multiple pasts of South Asia without projecting modern categories onto those diverse traditions and practices. Accordingly, we will examine Upanisadic texts and the four noble truths as more than tenants of ‘Hinduism’ or ‘Buddhism.’ Throughout the course we will ask how appropriate these concepts are for understanding the premodern traditions of South Asia. The class will include extensive use of visual resources in addition to traditional texts.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities, Domestic Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• No textbooks - Instructor will provide reading materials on SmartSite
   

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Religious Studies 60. Introduction to Islam (4 units)
Baki Tezcan

MW 12:10-2:00P
158 Olson
CRN 43947

Course Description: This course aims to introduce the students to topics that are central to the Islamic tradition, such as Muhammad, the Qur’an, Islamic law, theology, philosophy, cosmology, worship, and mysticism. Other areas that will be visited include race and gender in Islam, Islamic revival, and varying experiences of Islam in different historical and cultural settings, including the contemporary US.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences, Domestic Diversity, and Writing Experience. 
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience. 

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Writing.

Textbooks:

• Jamal J. Elias, Key Themes for the Study of Islam  (Oneworld Publications, 2010)
   

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Religious Studies 100. Study of Religion: Issues and Methods (4 units)
Mark Elmore

TR 1:40-3:00P
101 Olson
CRN 39573

Course Description: In the wake of the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the discovery of the new world, religion became a problem as never before. This class explores the development of this problem from the early modern period through the present, focusing on two wide-ranging narratives. The first concerns the declining authority of God and the reciprocal ascent of the individual as it develops in early-modern and modern philosophy including, for example, the writings of Nietzsche. The second concerns the birth and growth of the academic study of religion alongside the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and sociology. We will text these theories against a selection of religious texts and rituals from a wide variety of ancient and contemporary traditions. Students are encouraged to investigate examples of particular interest to them (perhaps something from a prior Religious Studies course). This course is ideally taken no later than the junior year.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): None. 
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences, World Cultures, and Writing Experiences. 

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• No textbooks - Instructor will provide reading materials on SmartSite
   

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Religious Studies 130. Medieval Jewish Writings: Literature, Philosophy, and Kabbalah (4 units)
Emily Foss

TR 9:00-10:20A
205 Olson
CRN 43962

Course Description: The Middle Ages saw a flourishing of Jewish thought, producing a wealth of writings that continue to inspire elucidation and investigation.  This course aims to provide a window into this world, through readings in literature, philosophy, and Kabbalah.  We will read Jewish poetry and short-story from Muslim and Christian lands, with attention to how these readings interact with and reflect the cultural and literary milieux of the authors. We will catch a glimpse of the historical reality of the time by examining narratives documenting the Crusades, and attempt to understand a bit about every-day life for the Jews of Spain and Germany through responsa (letters containing legal questions and answers).  This course will include philosophical readings by Maimonides, on diverse topics ranging from medicine to Biblical interpretation.  Finally, course readings will provide an introduction to Kabbalah, with a focus on its basic concepts, important moments and figures in its dissemination, and how this body of wisdom was understood at the time.  No prior knowledge of Jewish tradition is necessary when signing up for this course.

Prerequisite: One course from RST 1, 2, 3A, 3B, or 3C, or consent of instructor.

GE credits (Old): None.
GE credits (New): World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, translated by T. Carmi  (Penguin Classics, 2006)
   

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Religious Studies 131. Genocide  (4 units)
Keith Watenpaugh

MW 2:10-4:00P
130 Physics
CRN 42741

Course Description: This course focuses on comparative and critical approach to the modern phenomenon of genocide from ethical, historical and religious perspectives. This course takes neither a bestiary approach to the study of genocide; nor does it seek to determine which genocide was worse. It is based on the proposition that the modern phenomenon of genocide can be studied from a comparative, critical theoretical perspective while simultaneously preserving the specificity and distinctive nature of each genocidal moment. Several genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries are examined through the lens of five thematic fields: Beginnings, Styles and Technologies, Remembering and Commemoration, Denial and Responsibility. Five genocides will be examined through these thematic fields: The Armenian Genocide, The Holocaust, The Genocide of the Kurds, The Rwandan Genocide and the Ethnic Cleansings of the Balkans. Course will consider the links between modernity and genocide, and the steps that could be taken to prevent/punish genocide in the future and explore the concept of restorative justice. Term paper (2500 words) will engage students in the comparison of two or more genocides using primary and secondary material.

Prerequisite: One course from RST 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, or 3E, or consent of instructor.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities and Domestic Diversity.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences, Visual Literacy, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• No textbook - course readings will be available on SmartSite or elsewhere online
   

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Religious Studies 134. Human Rights  (4 units)
Keith Watenpaugh

MW 10:00-11:50A
1344 Storer
CRN 42742

Course Description: This upper division course introduces students to the comparative and critical study of Human Rights. Students will study the theoretical, historical and practical foundations of human rights in various civilizations, cultures and religions, evaluate the role of Human Rights within western and non-western societies, and examine the role of human rights thinking, policy and institutions in the contemporary world. Of particular interest will be the intersection of the question of human rights and religious difference and the role religious institutions and movements have in the protection/violation of human rights.

Prerequisite: None. (Students who have completed RST 90 are ineligible to receive credit for RST 134)

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities and Domestic Diversity.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• No textbook - course readings will be available on SmartSite or elsewhere online
   

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Religious Studies 157. Hindu Women and Goddesses  (4 units)
Archana Venkatesan

M 2:10-5:00P
293 Kerr
CRN 42743

Course Description: This seminar explores Hindu goddesses and the religious lives of the women who worship them. In doing so, we interrogate specific roles that women in India assume such as the goddess, mystic, the exemplary devotee, the poetic trope of the female heroine (nāyikā) and the ways in which women resist or subvert these categories. The seminar will also engage with the unique phenomenon—the rise in popularity of female gurus (teachers) in the past two decades. Throughout the course, we will address the relationship between human women and Hindu Goddesses, the binary between “fierce” and “benevolent” goddesses as well as issues of transnational cultural appropriation, fetishizing and commodification, of female Hindu religious images.

Prerequisite: RST 10 recommended.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities, Domestic Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Tracy Pintchman, The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition  (State University of New York Press, 1994)
• David L. Haberman, River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India  (University of California Press, 2006)
• Corinne G. Dempsey, The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple  (Oxford University Press, 2005)
• Karen Pechilis, The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States  (Oxford University Press, 2004)
• Rachel Fell McDermott, Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals  (Columbia University Press, 2011)
   

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Religious Studies 190. Seminar: The Metapragmatics of Religious Language  (4 units)
Naomi Janowitz

T 3:10-6:00P
922 Sproul
CRN 43948

Course Description: This upper-level seminar is designed for students who have already taken RST 70 (Religion and Language) or its equivalent. We will read a range of scholars including Charles Peirce, J. L. Austin, Michael Silverstein and Richard Parmentier. Their ideas will be used to analyze ancient and modern notions of textuality, performativity and metapragmatics.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor; required of all Religious Studies majors.

GE credits (Old): None.
GE credits (New): None.

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• A Course Reader