Universität Wien

140106 PS Theory and Methods of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (2013S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 14 - Orientalistik, Afrikanistik, Indologie und Tibetologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Details

max. 36 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 04.03. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 18.03. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 08.04. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 15.04. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 22.04. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 29.04. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 06.05. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 13.05. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 27.05. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 03.06. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 10.06. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 17.06. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25
  • Monday 24.06. 11:45 - 13:15 Seminarraum 1 ISTB UniCampus Hof 2 2B-O1-25

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course is a systematic introduction to the methodology of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (BTS). Students will primarily read and discuss articles written by BTS scholars. In addition to philological and historical methods, we will also examine the most significant methods and theories from various fields of the humanities that can be applied in BTS (eg., anthropological, social, philosophical, etc.).

Course Requirements

The students' progress in the course and grading will depend on:

Conscientious attendance (Students must come to class prepared regarding the reading. Missing more than three classes without valid reasons means a 5).
Class participation (i.e., regular attendance, in-class comments related to the class topic).
Reading summary and its oral presentation (a PPT reader will be presented by each student and discussed in class).
Term paper (each student will choose a topic and write a detailed outlined for a research project on this topic).

Course outline

- LV1 - History of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies
- LV2 - The Role of Questioning in Research
- LV3 - From Scissors-and-Paste and Battle-History to Critical Historiography
- LV4 - Heuristic & Criticism
- LV5 - Explaining the Past - Causation in History & Philosophies of History
- LV6 - Understanding Historical and Social Events - Hermeneutics
- LV7 - Reasoning about the past - Building Logical Inferences and Arguments
- LV8 - Language, Translation, and Conceptualization Issues
- LV9 - Historiography and the Notion of Structures
- LV10 - Postmodernist History: Discourse and Narrative
- LV11 - Deconstructionist History and Beyond
- LV12 - Cultural Studies & Connected/Entangled History: an Overview
- LV13 - Ritual Studies: an Introduction
- LV14 - Critical Thinking
- LV15 - Academic Writing

Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The main aim of this course is to give students:

tools to critically engage the sources they will use;
a general theoretical framework for academic research;
a solid methodological basis in order to conduct detailed empirical research;
an understanding of the formative theories of BTS as an interdisciplinary field of research;
a comprehensive representation of contemporary challenges related to BTS. Three questions will therefore be answered during this course:
What are Buddhist and Tibetan Studies as a discipline? (Definition)
How should we study it? (Methods)
What can we say about it? (Theories)

Examination topics

Reading list

Required Texts

Required and recommended readings will be mentioned in the weekly lectures. The course website includes three sections mentioning the texts to be read for each weekly class:

A PPT reader about methodology (e.g., philology, history);
Required reading before class (i.e., articles written by BTS scholars illustrating the methods presented in the reader);
After-class reading (i.e., recommended articles).

Association in the course directory

BA4

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:34