240521 VO MM3 Anthropology of Religion (2024S)
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Registration/Deregistration
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
Thursday
07.03.
13:15 - 14:45
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Thursday
14.03.
08:00 - 09:30
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
21.03.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
11.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
18.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
25.04.
13:15 - 14:45
Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
Thursday
02.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
16.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
23.05.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
N
Thursday
06.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
13.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Thursday
27.06.
13:15 - 14:45
Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
Evaluation (Lecture)
Final Paper (4000 words): 100%
Participation in class discussion: +0,5 points (extra)
Oral presentation of class reading: +0,5 points (extra)The Final Exam is on TBD = The final exam will consist of a final paper on a topic agreed upon by each student and the professor, ideally relating to the student’s own Master’s project.* all assignments must be submitted through the Moodle platform*According the UniVienna and KSA standards, the grading scheme is as follows:
91–100 points = 1 (excellent); 81–90 points = 2 (good); 71–80 points = 3 (satisfactory); 61–70 points = 4 (sufficient); 0–60 points = 5 (insufficient). In order to complete the course, one needs to obtain at least 61 points. Students can earn 10 extra points for class participation.
Final Paper (4000 words): 100%
Participation in class discussion: +0,5 points (extra)
Oral presentation of class reading: +0,5 points (extra)The Final Exam is on TBD = The final exam will consist of a final paper on a topic agreed upon by each student and the professor, ideally relating to the student’s own Master’s project.* all assignments must be submitted through the Moodle platform*According the UniVienna and KSA standards, the grading scheme is as follows:
91–100 points = 1 (excellent); 81–90 points = 2 (good); 71–80 points = 3 (satisfactory); 61–70 points = 4 (sufficient); 0–60 points = 5 (insufficient). In order to complete the course, one needs to obtain at least 61 points. Students can earn 10 extra points for class participation.
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
Upon course completion, students should be able to:
1. Understand how anthropologists study religion.
2. Acquire a set of anthropological conceptual tools to understand religion and related phenomena, and how they affect worldviews and agency.
3. Understand how historical processes such as colonialism, capitalism and globalization shape and are shaped by religion.
4. Challenge assumptions about what religion is, and its place in the world today (i.e. via values and practices embedded in contemporary political and ideological systems).
5. Gain perspective on how religion may be present in the subjective experiences and everyday life of the students themselves.
6. Learn about the world’s vivid religious diversity and modestly situate religious traditions and landscapes in historical and global contexts.
7. Engage critically in contemporary public debates (outside academia) about, for example, religion and secularism, religious pluralism, piety expressions in public spaces, and science and religion.This will be evaluated throught the final paper, in class discussion, and student presentations of class readings (for extra points).
1. Understand how anthropologists study religion.
2. Acquire a set of anthropological conceptual tools to understand religion and related phenomena, and how they affect worldviews and agency.
3. Understand how historical processes such as colonialism, capitalism and globalization shape and are shaped by religion.
4. Challenge assumptions about what religion is, and its place in the world today (i.e. via values and practices embedded in contemporary political and ideological systems).
5. Gain perspective on how religion may be present in the subjective experiences and everyday life of the students themselves.
6. Learn about the world’s vivid religious diversity and modestly situate religious traditions and landscapes in historical and global contexts.
7. Engage critically in contemporary public debates (outside academia) about, for example, religion and secularism, religious pluralism, piety expressions in public spaces, and science and religion.This will be evaluated throught the final paper, in class discussion, and student presentations of class readings (for extra points).
Examination topics
Reading list
Abu‐Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others.” American Anthropologist, 104(3):783‐790.
Agrama, Hussein A. 2012. Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty, and the Rule of Law in Modern Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Asad, Talal. 1993. “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category”. In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Pp. 27 – 54.
Asad, Talal. 1983 “Anthropological Conceptions of Religion: Reflections on Geertz”. Man 18(2):237-259.
Bateson, Gregory and Mary Catherine Bateson. 1984. Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred. New Jersey: Hampton Press.
Bellah, Robert. 1967. “Civil Religion in America”. Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Winter, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 1-21
Bielo, James S. 2015. Anthropology of Religion: The Basics. New York: Routledge.
Casanova, José. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Comaroff, John L. and Jean. 1997, “Preachers and Prophets. The Domestication of the Sacred Word.” In Of Revelation and Revolution. The Dialectics of Modernity on a South African Frontier. Volume Two. Pp. 63‐118. Chicago: The Chicago University Press.
Csordas, Thomas J. 1993. “Somatic Modes of Attention”. Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 135-156.
Csordas, Thomas J. 2004. “Asymptote of the Ineffable: Embodiment, Alterity, and the Theory of Religion”. Current Anthropology, Volume 45, Number 2, pp. 163-185.
Das, Veena. 2013. “Cohabiting an interreligious milieu: Reflections on religious diversity”. In Boddy Janice and Michael Lambek (Eds.). A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Pp. 69‐84.
Deeb, Lara. 2006. An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
de Vries, Hent (Ed.). 2008. Religion: Beyond a Concept. New York: Fordham University Press.
Douglas, Mary. 1966, “The Abominations of Leviticus.” In Purity and Danger. Pp. 42‐58. London: Routledge.
Durkheim, Emile. 2001 [1912] “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life”. In Lambek, Michael, ed. 2008. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Pp. 34-47.
Eller, Jack David. 2007. Introducing Anthropology of Religion. London: Routledge.
Eliade, Mircea. 1959. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
Evans-Pritchard, Edward. 1939. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 63-83.
Fernando, Mayanthi. 2014. The Republic Unsettled: Muslim French and the Contradictions of Secularism. Durham: Duke University Press.
Frazer, James. 1894. “Sympathetic Magic”. In The Golden Bough. Temple of Earth Publishing. London: MacMillan and Co.
Geertz, Clifford. 1993. “Religion as a Cultural System”. In The interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Fontana Press, pp.87-125.
Hausner, Sondra L. 2020. “The Comparative Anthropology of Religion, or the Anthropology of Religion Compared: a Critical Comment”. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale 28, 2 482–495.
Hirschkind, Charles. 2006. The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kapferer, Bruce (ed.). 2003. Beyond Rationalism: Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Keane, Webb. 2007. Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Laidlaw, James. 1995. Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society Among the Jains. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lambek, Michael. 2013. “What is ‘religion’ for anthropology? And what has anthropology brought to religion?” In Boddy, Janice and Michael Lambek (Eds.). A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Lambek, Mic
Agrama, Hussein A. 2012. Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty, and the Rule of Law in Modern Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Asad, Talal. 1993. “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category”. In Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Pp. 27 – 54.
Asad, Talal. 1983 “Anthropological Conceptions of Religion: Reflections on Geertz”. Man 18(2):237-259.
Bateson, Gregory and Mary Catherine Bateson. 1984. Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred. New Jersey: Hampton Press.
Bellah, Robert. 1967. “Civil Religion in America”. Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Winter, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 1-21
Bielo, James S. 2015. Anthropology of Religion: The Basics. New York: Routledge.
Casanova, José. 1994. Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Comaroff, John L. and Jean. 1997, “Preachers and Prophets. The Domestication of the Sacred Word.” In Of Revelation and Revolution. The Dialectics of Modernity on a South African Frontier. Volume Two. Pp. 63‐118. Chicago: The Chicago University Press.
Csordas, Thomas J. 1993. “Somatic Modes of Attention”. Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 135-156.
Csordas, Thomas J. 2004. “Asymptote of the Ineffable: Embodiment, Alterity, and the Theory of Religion”. Current Anthropology, Volume 45, Number 2, pp. 163-185.
Das, Veena. 2013. “Cohabiting an interreligious milieu: Reflections on religious diversity”. In Boddy Janice and Michael Lambek (Eds.). A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Pp. 69‐84.
Deeb, Lara. 2006. An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
de Vries, Hent (Ed.). 2008. Religion: Beyond a Concept. New York: Fordham University Press.
Douglas, Mary. 1966, “The Abominations of Leviticus.” In Purity and Danger. Pp. 42‐58. London: Routledge.
Durkheim, Emile. 2001 [1912] “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life”. In Lambek, Michael, ed. 2008. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Pp. 34-47.
Eller, Jack David. 2007. Introducing Anthropology of Religion. London: Routledge.
Eliade, Mircea. 1959. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
Evans-Pritchard, Edward. 1939. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 63-83.
Fernando, Mayanthi. 2014. The Republic Unsettled: Muslim French and the Contradictions of Secularism. Durham: Duke University Press.
Frazer, James. 1894. “Sympathetic Magic”. In The Golden Bough. Temple of Earth Publishing. London: MacMillan and Co.
Geertz, Clifford. 1993. “Religion as a Cultural System”. In The interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Fontana Press, pp.87-125.
Hausner, Sondra L. 2020. “The Comparative Anthropology of Religion, or the Anthropology of Religion Compared: a Critical Comment”. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale 28, 2 482–495.
Hirschkind, Charles. 2006. The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kapferer, Bruce (ed.). 2003. Beyond Rationalism: Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Keane, Webb. 2007. Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Laidlaw, James. 1995. Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society Among the Jains. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lambek, Michael. 2013. “What is ‘religion’ for anthropology? And what has anthropology brought to religion?” In Boddy, Janice and Michael Lambek (Eds.). A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Lambek, Mic
Association in the course directory
Last modified: Fr 22.03.2024 09:46
This course aims to answer such questions by introducing students to the study of religion from an anthropological perspective. It discusses what religion is; how different social groups conceive of religion, experience it, and express it; how religion is embedded in the daily lives of people; how it relates to power, society, culture, aesthetics, gender, politics, ethnicity, economy, and more; and what is the place of religion in the contemporary, (post)modern world. In doing so, students will learn about key concepts; how such concepts fit (political and ethical) knowledge traditions; how they shift in time; and how they relate to anthropology at large. The course takes students from classical to contemporary theoretical debates within the anthropology of religion, with a slight focus on the anthropology of Islam and how it relates to the anthropology of religion at large.
The course is composed of the following units: 1. Religion and Anthropology; 2. Early Classics; 3. The French School; 4. Religion and Symbols; 5. Religion and Ritual; 6. Religion as an Anthropological Category; 7. The Anthropology of Islam; 8. Amerindian Perspectivism; 9. Religion, Politics & Power; 10. The Religious Subject; 11. Lived Religion; Religion, Media & Aesthetics; 12. Religion and Secularism Today; 13. Other Contemporary Perspectives in the Anthropology of Religion. The suggested readings include classic authors/texts, along with contemporary contributions from both the Global North and the Global South.