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In this course, we will explore the 21st century formations and experience of Islam and Muslims in the United States. Using ethnographic studies and digital media content, we will also examine how the lived experience of American Muslims interacts with theoretical and normative conceptions of Islam, and whether these interactions eventually create a distinctive "American Islam." Topics covered will include: internal and external racial & gender dynamics, ideological debates, institutions, social media and culture wars, politics, and specific geographical communities as case studies. Together we will develop a critical perspective on the US Muslim experience, particularly as a case of how one diverse religious community negotiates religion in a complex sociopolitical setting.

Description to come.

Yoga has become one of the most popular forms of physical and spiritual activity in the contemporary Western world. Yet, its history and cultural affiliations remain obscure and controversial. How did Yoga develop from its South Asian religious origins to the secular multibillion-dollar industry we know nowadays? This course examines the history of Yoga's practice and philosophy in its many cultural and religious contexts in light of the most recent scholarship on the subject. We will challenge common misconceptions regarding Yoga, such as the notion that the Yoga postures we practice today are thousands of years old, that Yoga is intrinsically Hindu, or that Patanjali's Yoga Sutra is the fundamental text of Hatha Yoga. We will survey the different roles that Yoga has played in most of the religious traditions of India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sufism or Islamic mysticism. We will pay specific attention to the diverse systems of thought and practice philosophies, psychologies, and "meditational" disciplines - that Yoga has upheld throughout its history. We will also see how Yoga traveled from India to the West in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, how it has changed over time, and how it has become the global phenomenon it is today. Seeing the complex plurality of what Yoga has been and can be, we will further ask what the limits of Yoga are: is "Beer yoga" or "Goat yoga" really Yoga? And what is the future of Yoga? This class combines lectures with discussions. The readings include accessible secondary literature and a selection of primary sources. Knowledge of Indian languages is not required, and no prior coursework in South Asian Studies or Religious Studies is presupposed.

Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) and Martin Luther King, Jr. are both icons of the twentieth-century civil rights and black freedom movements. Often characterized as polar opposites - one advocating armed self-defense and the other non-violence against all provocation - they continue to be important religious, political, and intellectual models for how we imagine the past as well as for current issues concerning religion, race, politics and freedom struggles in the United States and globally. This course focuses on the political and spiritual lives of Martin and Malcolm. We will examine their personal biographies, speeches, writings, representations, FBI Files, and legacies as a way to better understand how the intersections of religion, race, and politics came to bare upon the freedom struggles of people of color in the US and abroad. The course also takes seriously the evolutions in both Martin and Malcolm's political approaches and intellectual development, focusing especially on the last years of their respective lives. We will also examine the critical literature that takes on the leadership styles and political philosophies of these communal leaders, as well as the very real opposition and surveillance they faced from state forces like the police and FBI. Students will gain an understanding of what social conditions, religious structures and institutions, and personal experiences led to first the emergence and then the assassinations of these two figures. We will discuss the subtleties of their political analyses, pinpointing the key differences and similarities of their philosophies, approaches, and legacies, and we will apply these debates of the mid- twentieth century to contemporary events and social movements in terms of how their legacies are articulated and what we can learn from them in struggles for justice and recognition in twenty-first century America and beyond.

Survey of the religious practices of the ancient Greeks. Readings will be both from original sources and from modern scholarship. There are no prerequisites. Knowledge of ancient Greek will be useful, but not required. Undergrads should give one short oral presentation and write one short paper. Grad students should give two presentations and write a longer paper.

Close reading and analysis of Calvin's <i>Institutes of the Christian Religion</i> as a classic expression of Christian belief.

What happens when you mix up evil, darkness, science fiction, romance, and lots and lots of ghosts? Our exploration of the supernatural and gothic romance will lead us to encounter hidden chambers, teleporting idols, haunted castles, and Frankenstein's monster. In the context of growing empire, technological change, questions about ultimate evil, the gothic gives us a unique opportunity to explore the connections between gothic romance and supernatural concepts.

How did early Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians imagine space? How did they construct heaven and hell and the afterlife through their written texts? Can we take written images of the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem and her temple, such as those found in Ezekiel, the Book of Revelation and the Apocalypse of Paul and transform them into three-dimensional space? Can we visualize Homer's Hades or Dante's Inferno? We are going to try! We will meet in the architecture studio and build out of foam board and hot glue. A number of themes will emerge through the course: the interpretive move in rendering a once real space as a literary icon, the relationship between text and imagined space, the connection between space and ritual, and how to construct an image of a society from whom it imagines in hell. Learn more about the course here: https://youtu.be/J9q8CCQ9NkA

What is the connection between new religious movements and secularization? As the religious concept of freedom was expanded in the 19th century, so was secular culture: there was a vast array of possible routes a person might take to pursue transcendent wisdom, and this was increasingly a matter of personal choice. Whether in the form of new religious movements such as the Oneida community, reactions against institutionalization of religion such as the rise of atheism, the creation of syncretic religions such as theosophy, or the combination of religious expression and scientific discourse in practices such as scientology, the last two hundred years have been an era of profound religious experimentation. But challenges to traditional religious expression not only consisted of new beliefs, they also led to innovative forms of community.