Time Schedule:
Cabeiri Debergh Robinson
RELIG 502
Seattle Campus
Analysis of selected theme or symbols in relation to several different religious traditions. Topics vary. Prerequisite: admission to the comparative religion MAIS program or permission of instructor. Offered: W.
Class description
This seminar employs ethnographic studies and anthropological theory to examine the relationships between culture and power in the analysis of religious and political violence. In Winter 2009, the theme is ¡§Sacrificial States: Modernity and Martyrdom¡¨. This seminar aims to reconsider the disjuncture between studies of Apolitical violence@ and of Aritual violence@ in order to examine the religious and mythic insertion of ¡§sacrifice¡¨ into the public as a legitimizing mode for political struggle. This course considers the possibility that the legitimacy of political power as such in the modern nation-state is constructed through sacrifice and ritual purification, rather than through the institution of bourgeois property rights or civic protections of the citizen-subject.
Student learning goals
theoretical issues in the anthropological study of contemporary political violence
Students will gain mastery in these scholarly areas and skills: „X about theoretical issues in the anthropological study of contemporary political violence „X about theoretical issues in the anthropological study of contemporary religious violence
scholarly bibliographies
how to identify and analyze the theoretical foundations of ethnographic descriptions of political and religious violence.
how to write a journal-quality book review.
how to use flagship journals and citation tracking to build scholarly bibliographies
how to use peer review to advance research and scholarship.
General method of instruction
Seminar discussion.
Recommended preparation
Graduate status in the Comparative Religions Program.
Class assignments and grading
Short writing assignments on weekly readings; seminar discussion; and research paper or annotated bibliography and literature review.
The final grade will reflect your full participation in this course weighted as follows: précis and participation 50%; final project 50%.
