010079 VO Religion and Globalisation (2023S)

A quarter century after the massive intrusion of the term ‘globalization’ into the public discourse, a considerable amount of scholarship has shown that dramatic changes in communication technology have ushered in a new period of global exchanges in which also culture and religion play an important role. In this course we will explore the globalization of religion as a multidimensional phenomenon including not only its institutional expansion across borders and the global flow of religious contents, but also other ways in which it actively contributes to a wide range of interactions. These include interactions between religion and powerful global systems such as the economy and science; interactions between different religious traditions and groups operating in the international arena; and interactions between religion and specific aspects of global culture, which are related to the issues of glocalization and hybridization. In addition, we will focus on some of the main factors underlying the globalization of religion, and on how the augmented interconnectedness brought about by global dynamics can be accompanied by new sophisticated mechanisms of exclusion/inclusion.
Method: Lectures with visual and textual material in English.