RELI 225 - Ethnography of Religion

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course is an introduction to religion as a set of cultural practices. We explore different ways that people have confronted “big questions,” such as how to live well in community with others, why bad things happen to good people and what to do about it, whether or not there is a life beyond the visible one and how to influence it, and how to produce ultimate meaning in an unpredictable world. Our entry point to these questions is a series of ethnographies of religion, secularism, and spirituality: accounts of religious culture that are grounded in immersive participant observation, interviews, and engaged, collaborative research. We consider how the categories of “religion” and “secular” have been produced through ethnographic texts, confront ethnography’s colonial legacy, and work with a range of innovative ethnographic genres, including performance, creative writing, and film. Students who are interested in pursuing their own ethnographic research should co-register for RELI 286 Ethnography of Religion Fieldwork Practicum. Based upon their fieldwork, students enrolled in this Intensive craft original ethnographic projects in a genre of their choice, such as writing, performance, or short film. Students may also enroll in Religion 225 without enrolling in the intensive; they do other coursework in lieu of an original ethnographic project. Contact Professor Wesselhoeft for more details about the relationship of the Intensive to this course. Kirsten Wesselhoeft.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS