140093 UE Material Culture: Indian Religions through 10 Objects (2019W)

In this seminar, we will examine Indian religions through the lens of material objects and their use in religious practice. Materiality is not secondary to ideas, but materiality triggers ideas and states of mind that influence material practices. We will study Indian religions through objects with the assumption that things, their usage, valuation, and power of attraction are inseparable from religion. Each object has its own biography and social agency. The same object can tell a completely different story depending on the perspective one looks at it and its context. The theoretical and methodological approach often referred to as the "material turn" gives us the opportunity to analyze Indian religions from an often-neglected perspective.
Students will have the opportunity not only to experience the socio-cultural aspects of Indian religions through selected objects in class, but they will also be able to apply these methodological approaches by researching the social-life of an artifact from the collection of the Weltmuseum in Vienna.

The Seminar will be held in English (Assignments can be, however, submitted in German)