010087 VO Religion and Sound Media: A Cultural History of Sense Perception (2023S)
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Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
Details
Language: English
Examination dates
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
- Monday 08.05. 15:00 - 20:00 Seminarraum 2 (Kath) Schenkenstraße EG
- Tuesday 09.05. 15:00 - 20:00 Seminarraum 1 (Kath) Schenkenstraße EG
- Wednesday 10.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 1 (Kath) Schenkenstraße EG
- Thursday 11.05. 15:00 - 20:00 PC-Raum 1 Schenkenstraße 8-10, 1.UG
- Friday 12.05. 16:45 - 20:00 Seminarraum 5 (Kath) Schenkenstraße 1.OG
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
Reading assignment for each seminar meeting is highly recommended.Final evaluation: Writing assignment (100%):
To pass the course, students will write an essay (5 pages, ca 9000 characters).
Students are free to choose the topic of the essay based on the themes and approaches discussed in the course
To pass the course, students will write an essay (5 pages, ca 9000 characters).
Students are free to choose the topic of the essay based on the themes and approaches discussed in the course
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
To pass the course at least 60% grade (60 points out of 100) are required from the essay.
Examination topics
Course content.
Reading list
1. Introduction: Cultural history of the sense (May 8)
Alfred Gell, “The Language of the Forest: Landscape and Phonological Iconism in Umeda,” in Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, ed. Eric Hirsch and Michael O’Hanlon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 236-240.David Howes, “The Social Life of the Senses”, Ars Vivendi Jurnal 3 (2013): 4-23.2. The Reformation as sensory revolution (May 9)
Robert M. Kingdon, “Worship in Geneva before and After the Reformation,” in Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity in Religious Practice, ed. Karin Maag and John D. Witvliet (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004): 41-60.3. Sound, magic and the history of science (May 10)
Leigh. E. Schmidt, Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000), 1-14; 79-125.4. Religion as Noise: Politics of Identity and Space (May 11)
Isaac Weiner Religion Out Loud: Religious Sound, Public Space, and American Pluralism (New York and London: New York University Press, 2013): 19-395. Colonial Sounds (May 12)
Andrew J. Rotter, „Educating: New Soundscapes”, in: id., Empires of the Senses Bodily Encounters in Imperial India and the Philippines (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 131-159.
Alfred Gell, “The Language of the Forest: Landscape and Phonological Iconism in Umeda,” in Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, ed. Eric Hirsch and Michael O’Hanlon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 236-240.David Howes, “The Social Life of the Senses”, Ars Vivendi Jurnal 3 (2013): 4-23.2. The Reformation as sensory revolution (May 9)
Robert M. Kingdon, “Worship in Geneva before and After the Reformation,” in Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity in Religious Practice, ed. Karin Maag and John D. Witvliet (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004): 41-60.3. Sound, magic and the history of science (May 10)
Leigh. E. Schmidt, Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000), 1-14; 79-125.4. Religion as Noise: Politics of Identity and Space (May 11)
Isaac Weiner Religion Out Loud: Religious Sound, Public Space, and American Pluralism (New York and London: New York University Press, 2013): 19-395. Colonial Sounds (May 12)
Andrew J. Rotter, „Educating: New Soundscapes”, in: id., Empires of the Senses Bodily Encounters in Imperial India and the Philippines (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 131-159.
Association in the course directory
MA RW: M3 ; M7.4; M7.5 ; M16
BA rw Bildung: BRP 15rwb (statt VO Geistes- und Kulturgeschichte des arabischislamischen
Orients, 2 SSt/4 ECTS (npi)); BRP 16rwb (statt VO Aufbaukurs Philosophische Anthropologie, 2 SSt/3ECTS (npi)); BRP 09rwb (=VO Vorlesung zur Modernen Religionsgeschichte 2 SSt/3ECTS (npi).
BA rw Bildung: BRP 15rwb (statt VO Geistes- und Kulturgeschichte des arabischislamischen
Orients, 2 SSt/4 ECTS (npi)); BRP 16rwb (statt VO Aufbaukurs Philosophische Anthropologie, 2 SSt/3ECTS (npi)); BRP 09rwb (=VO Vorlesung zur Modernen Religionsgeschichte 2 SSt/3ECTS (npi).
Last modified: We 19.07.2023 10:46
In response to the historiographical narratives privileging the role of vision in Western culture (“ocularcentrism”, literacy thesis, “Gutenberg revolution”), the course will pay special attention to the sense of hearing, or “the second sense”. Taking hearing as a point of departure, students will be encouraged to examine religion across historical media formats and practices of mediation. Special consideration shall be given to the role of the senses in moments of historical and cultural transformations, where new and established media and modes of sensation are often in conflict. The course will offer a cross-disciplinary conception of the history of religion as a history of sensory mediation, making use of approaches from media and social history, anthropology, aesthetics of religion, and the history of science.Aims:After completing this course, students will be
• familiar with the main theoretical perspective in the cultural study of the senses
• be familiar with research topics in the history of religion and sound/listening
• be able to critically interpret the role of sensory mediation in religious traditions and formulate their own research questions.
Methods:
• Seminar discussions based on close reading of assigned text.
• Short lectures combined with group work during seminars.