Kurzus nemzetközi vendég- és részidős hallgatóknak

Kar

Társadalomtudományi Kar

Szervezet

TÁTK Kulturális Antropológia Tanszék

Kód

EKAN112

Cím

Seminar Anthropology of Religion

Tervezett félév

Őszi

Meghirdetve

2024/25/1

ECTS

3

Nyelv

en

Oktatás célja

Anthropology of Religion / Seminar Richard Papp pappriki@gmail.com +20 9508118 Registration for the Anthropology of Religion seminar is ONLY recommended for those who can take the Anthropology of Religion lecture too. The reason for this is that the Anthropology of Religion lecture classes involve visits to various religious and spiritual communities, and the visits are part of the seminar curriculum and take place during the seminar classes, as well. This seminar aims at providing conceptual and methodological tools for studying all forms of religious phenomena from an anthropological perspective. Relying on anthropological theories as well as observation and analytical methods, students will reflect upon specific empirical cases, forms of behavior and cultural conceptions that characterize the field qualified as “religious” or “spiritual”. Goal of the course and skills to acquire The seminar’s goal is to provide students with essential concepts as well as theoretical and methodological approaches of the anthropology of religion. The topics discussed will contribute to a reasoned approach of questions related to religious phenomena in their thesis.

Tantárgy tartalma

Structure of the course The seminar course is structured around two main modules: the writing and discussion of a “religion diary” by the students in the seminar classes, and the participation in and interpretation of visits that are also related to the Anthropology of Religion lecture course. Seminars 1-2: Introduction lectures about the science history of anthropology of religion and the main approach, questions and theories of the anthropology of religion. Explanations of the terms of religion and culture with their universal and attributes. Seminar 3: Students' presentations on their religion diaries Seminars 4-6: Visiting an ashram of the Hare Krishna Movement (ISCON), a Buddhist community or a Yoga studio, and a Muslim Mosque. Seminar 7: Students' presentations on their religion diaries Seminars 8-10: Visiting a synagogue, a Christian congregation and an organization of Scientology. Seminar 11: Students' presentations on their religion diaries Seminar 12: Students' presentations on their religion diaries. Summary of the course.

Számonkérés és értékelés

Course requirements and evaluation Students will be required to actively participate in the seminar and the visits of religious and spiritual communities and present a “religion diary” which will be discussed in class. The “religion diary” is intended as a warm-up for the individual observation of religious phenomena and for their ethnographic description. It consists in the detailed documentation of all religion and spirituality-related things one may come across over one/two week’s period. It may include: - personal experiences of any given religious or spiritual practice and the questions and reflections they inspire; - personal experiences of one’s own religious or spiritual observance and the questions and reflections they inspire; - observation of any religion or spirituality related event or information one may come across over a week’s period through interactions with family members, friends, or acquaintances or even in the media. The diary should be based on a detailed description (Who? When? Where? What? How?) of a given experience/event/practice/conversation, etc. and of its tentative reflexive interpretation (what do I think about what I observed? Why am I thinking this?). Experiences in the communities visited during the semester can also form part of the presentations on the religion diary. During the course, students will present their observations and interpretations, which will be discussed together after each lecture. Evaluation is based on class participation, participation of the visits and the presentation of “religion diary”. With any questions and queries concerning the course and the assignments, please contact me on the following e-mail address: pappriki@gmail.com or whatsapp: +36 20 9508118

Irodalomjegyzék

Approaches and readings that can help the presentations: Questions of definition of religion: Bowie, Fiona 2006. The Anthropology of Religion. Oxford-Malden, Blackwell Publishing. Geertz, Clifford.1993. Religion as a cultural system. In The interpretation of cultures, Fontana Press, p. 87-125. 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, p. 27-54. Symbolism: Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963 [1949]. The effectiveness of symbols. In Structural Anthropology, New York, Basic Books, p. 186-205. Severi, Carlo. 2002. Memory, reflexivity and belief. Reflections on the ritual use of language. Social Anthropology 10(1): 23-40. Witchcraft: Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan. 1976 [1937]. (Ch. II.) The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events. In Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande, Oxford, Clarendon Press, p. 18-32. Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 1980 [1977]. (Ch. 11) Not much believing. In Deadly words, Cambridge, CUP/Paris, Editions de la MSH. Magic: Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1979 [1931]. The role of magic and religion. In Lessa, William and Vogt, Evon (eds.) Reader on comparative religion, New York, Harper and Row, p. 77-86. Lindquist, Galina. 2002. Spirits and souls of business: New Russians, magic and the aesthetics of kitsch. In Journal of Material Culture 7.3 (2002): 329-343. Myth: Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963 [1949]. The structural study of myths. In Structural Anthropology, New York, Basic Books, p. 206-231. Leach, Edmund.1961. Lévi-Strauss in the Garden of Eden: an examination of some recent developments in the analysis of myth. In Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 23, 386. Ritual: Van Gennep, Arnold.  1960 [1909]. (Ch. VI.) Initiation rites. In The rites of passage, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Turner, Victor. 1991 [1969]. (Ch. 3) “Liminality and communitas”. In The ritual process. Structure and anti-structure, p. 94-130. Belief: Pouillon, Jean. 1982. “Remarks on the verb ‘to believe.’” In Izard, Michel and Smith, Pierre (eds.) Between belief and transgression: Structuralist essays in religion, history, and myth, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Reprint 2016 Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 6 (3): 485–492) Gable, Eric. 1995. The decolonization of consciousness: local skeptics and the ‘will to be modern’ in a West African village, American Ethnologist 22(2): 242-257. Contemporary religiosities - Pentecostalism and the New Age: Robbins, Joel. 2004. The globalization of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 117-143. Bowman, Marion. 1995. “The Noble Savage and the global village: cultural evolution in New Age and Neo-Pagan thought”, Journal of contemporary religion (10)2: 139-149.

Ajánlott irodalom

Approaches and readings that can help the presentations: Questions of definition of religion: Bowie, Fiona 2006. The Anthropology of Religion. Oxford-Malden, Blackwell Publishing. Geertz, Clifford.1993. Religion as a cultural system. In The interpretation of cultures, Fontana Press, p. 87-125. 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, p. 27-54. Symbolism: Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963 [1949]. The effectiveness of symbols. In Structural Anthropology, New York, Basic Books, p. 186-205. Severi, Carlo. 2002. Memory, reflexivity and belief. Reflections on the ritual use of language. Social Anthropology 10(1): 23-40. Witchcraft: Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan. 1976 [1937]. (Ch. II.) The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events. In Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande, Oxford, Clarendon Press, p. 18-32. Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 1980 [1977]. (Ch. 11) Not much believing. In Deadly words, Cambridge, CUP/Paris, Editions de la MSH. Magic: Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1979 [1931]. The role of magic and religion. In Lessa, William and Vogt, Evon (eds.) Reader on comparative religion, New York, Harper and Row, p. 77-86. Lindquist, Galina. 2002. Spirits and souls of business: New Russians, magic and the aesthetics of kitsch. In Journal of Material Culture 7.3 (2002): 329-343. Myth: Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1963 [1949]. The structural study of myths. In Structural Anthropology, New York, Basic Books, p. 206-231. Leach, Edmund.1961. Lévi-Strauss in the Garden of Eden: an examination of some recent developments in the analysis of myth. In Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 23, 386. Ritual: Van Gennep, Arnold.  1960 [1909]. (Ch. VI.) Initiation rites. In The rites of passage, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Turner, Victor. 1991 [1969]. (Ch. 3) “Liminality and communitas”. In The ritual process. Structure and anti-structure, p. 94-130. Belief: Pouillon, Jean. 1982. “Remarks on the verb ‘to believe.’” In Izard, Michel and Smith, Pierre (eds.) Between belief and transgression: Structuralist essays in religion, history, and myth, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Reprint 2016 Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 6 (3): 485–492) Gable, Eric. 1995. The decolonization of consciousness: local skeptics and the ‘will to be modern’ in a West African village, American Ethnologist 22(2): 242-257. Contemporary religiosities - Pentecostalism and the New Age: Robbins, Joel. 2004. The globalization of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 117-143. Bowman, Marion. 1995. “The Noble Savage and the global village: cultural evolution in New Age and Neo-Pagan thought”, Journal of contemporary religion (10)2: 139-149.

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