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CS92PROD
The Anthropology of Religion
RELI 395
Fall 2021 not offered
Crosslisting: ANTH 395

What do we study when we study religion? We can observe practices, record speech, examine objects and actions--but what do these things tell us? If religion is about belief, what can we say about belief from documenting actions? Perhaps we must conclude that religion is not about belief, but if so, are in danger of "explaining away" the very phenomena we seek to understand? This course will introduce students to a cross-cultural, comparative perspective on religious practice and belief in order to critically reflect on the role of methodology and research design in the study of religion and the social sciences more broadly. How do we know what we know? How do we plan research in order to find out what we want to know? The course has a significant methods component, which, during the Spring semester 2020 will focus on online ethnographic methods. Students will be expected to do (partially) online field research exercises and prepare a methodology research proposal for a fictional or real project as a final assignment. Methodological exercises will be interspersed with ethnographic texts that allow us to reflect on how religion is studied, experienced, and explained. Students planning theses or other research projects with an ethnographic component, in any social science field, may use the class and the final assignment to conceptualize and plan their projects.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS RELI
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode:
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ANTH)(EDST-MN)(EDST)(RELI-MN)(RELI)(STS)

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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