Scoundrels, Sinners, and Saints: Approaches to Buddhist Life Writing
RELI 309
Fall 2023
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CEAS 309, GSAS 309 |
This seminar will examine a variety of religious biographies and autobiographies in order to evaluate the significance of life writing in the Buddhist traditions of Asia. Materials will cover a broad range of historical periods, from early medieval to modern, and geographic regions, including South Asia, East Asia, the Himalayas, and Tibet. Topics include the structure, function, style, production, and reception of biographies and autobiographies, as well as more thematic questions of religious transmission, soteriology and praxis, formations of self-identity, gender, and the relationships of biographical literature to art and pilgrimage. Readings include primary Buddhist texts in translation supplemented by secondary scholarship on hagiography and sainthood, literary theory, narrative constructions of the self, and Buddhist history. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (GSAS)(RELI-MN)(RELI) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Asvaghosa, LIFE OF THE BUDDHA (BUDDHACARITA)
Roland Barthes, "The Reality Effect"
Jerome Brunner, "The Narrative Construction Of Reality"
Charles Hallisey and Anne Hansen, "Narrative, Sub-Ethics, And The Moral Life"
Tsangnyon Heruka. Transl. by Andrew Quintman, LIFE OF MILAREPA
Felice Lifshitz, "Beyond Positivism and Genre"
Nancy Miller, "Representing Others: Gender and the Subjects Of Autobiography"
Soko Morinaga, NOVICE TO MASTER: AN ONGOING LESSON IN THE EXTENT OF MY OWN STUPIDITY
Kurtis Schaeffer, HIMALAYAN HERMITESS: THE LIFE OF A TIBETAN BUDDHIST NUN
Amy Schmidt, DIPA MA: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF A BUDDHIST MASTER
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Weekly short reading responses
1 short written project (3 pages)
1 final project (12 pages or equivalent)
Oral presentation |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Method and Theory requirement for the Religion major
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| Instructor(s): Quintman,Andrew H Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: DWNY100; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 4 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 5 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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