printer friendly pageHISTORY 297F: Religion and Power in the Making of Modern South Asia (RELIGST 255, RELIGST 355)
This course examines the diverse ways that religious traditions have been involved in the brokering of power in South Asia from the late seventeenth century to the present day. We will examine the intersection of religion and power in different arenas, including historical memory, religious festivals, language politics, and violent actions. At the core of our inquiry is how religion is invoked in political contexts (and vice-versa), public displays of religiosity, and the complex dynamics of religion and the state. Among other issues, we will particularly engage with questions of religious identity, knowledge, and violence. Undergraduates must enroll in
RELIGST 255 for 5 units. Graduate students must enroll
RELIGST 355 for 3-5 units. HISTORY297F must be taken for 4-5 units.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-SI, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Truschke, A. (PI)
LAW 586: Islamic Law
Topics include marriage, divorce, inheritance, ritual, war, rebellion, abortion, and relations with non-Muslims. The course begins with the premodern period, in which jurists were organized in legal traditions called "schools of law." After examining the nature and functions of these institutions, we turn to the present era to study the relationship between customary law, state law, and the Islamic legal heritage in Egypt and Indonesia. The course explores Muslim laws and legal institutions and the factors that have shaped them, including social values and customs, politics, legal precedents, and textual interpretation. Elements used in grading: Participation. Cross-listed with Religious Studies (
RELIGST 201/301).
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Sadeghi, B. (PI)
;
Marcus, A. (TA)
OSPBER 12: The Politics of Memory
Why is the urban landscape of Berlin so crowded with memorials of WW II, its victims, perpetrators, and the resistance? Exploration of the politics surrounding the memorialization of WW II, with a focus on the city of Berlin: the nature of collective memory and its representation; the function of the memorial in public consciousness; the importance of memory of WW II in German political culture; the changing political landscape of WWII in the context of European politics; comparison of American and European memorialization of war. Material: Films and literary texts; field trips to memorials and museums, including the concentration camp Sachsenhausen; historical accounts and political analyses.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom
Instructors:
Fonrobert, C. (PI)
OSPKYOTO 13: Contemporary Japanese Religion
Japanese attitudes to religion and popular forms of religiosity. Syncretic nature of beliefs and practices drawn on a variety of interwoven concepts, beliefs, customs and religious activities of native Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Indian origins as background. Topics include: pursuit of worldly benefits, religion and healing, fortune-telling, ascetic practices, pilgrimage, festivals (matsuri), new religions and their image, impact of the internet, response of religion in times of crisis.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Ludvik, C. (PI)
OSPMADRD 74: Islam in Spain and Europe: 1300 Years of Contact
Primary problems and conflicts in the contemporary Islamic world and its relations with the West, as well as the relationship between Spain and Islam throughout history. Special attention to the history of al-Andalus, an Islamic state in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, evaluating the importance of its legacy in Europe and in contemporary Spain. Spain's leading role in relations between Europe and the Mediterranean Islamic states from the Modern Era to the present day.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom
OSPMADRD 75: Sefarad: The Jewish Community in Spain
The legacy of Sefarad, the Jewish community in Spain. Historical evolution of the Sephardic community, under both Muslim and Christian rule, including the culmination of Anti-Semitism in 1492 with the expulsion of the Jews. Cultural contribution of the Hebrew communities in their condition as a social minority, both in al-Andalus, the peninsular Islamic State, and in the peninsular Christian kingdoms.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Ariza Armada, A. (PI)
RELIGST 1: Religion Around the Globe
A survey of significant religious traditions of the world with emphasis on contemporary manifestations. We will address aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. In addition, we will discuss interaction between individuals and communities in diverse and complex religious settings such as East Asia, the Middle East, and North America.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, GER:EC-GlobalCom, GER:DB-Hum, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Gentzke, J. (PI)
;
Kieschnick, J. (PI)
;
McNicholl, A. (PI)
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Instructors:
Gentzke, J. (PI)
;
Kieschnick, J. (PI)
;
McNicholl, A. (PI)
;
Gentzke, J. (TA)
;
McNicholl, A. (TA)
RELIGST 11N: The Meaning of Life: Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Religious Perspectives
Raise ultimate questions about life. Yes, the unexamined life is not worth living, but also the unlived life is not worth examining. Students and professor examine their own lives in the light of questions that the readings and lectures bring up: 1. The big picture: Is there such a thing as "the" meaning of life? 2. What is entailed in making personal-existential sense of one's own life? 3. What constitutes the good life, lived in society? 4. How can a university education bear upon the search for a meaningful life? 5. What "methods" for or approches to life can one learn from studies in the humanities? After introductory lectures, the seminar studies a series of artworks, poems, diverse texts, and a film, all of which bear on the questions mentioned above -- works such: 1. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, from "The Republic" 2. Manet's "A bar at the Folies Bergere" 3. A comparison/contrast of Monet's early (1862) "Still Life" and van Gogh's late (1889) "Irises" 4. Lyric poetry T.S. Eliot: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "The Waste Land," and "East Coker"; Edwin Muir: "The Heart Could Never Speak"; Philip Larkin: "Days" 5. Martin Heidegger's "What Is Metaphysics?" 6. Jean-Paul Sartre's novel "Nausea" 7. Marx's Paris Manuscripts of 1844 8. Bergman's "The Seventh Seal"
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Sheehan, T. (PI)
RELIGST 12N: Perspectives on the Good Life
The question is how to approach and evaluate different perspectives on the good life, especially when those perspectives are beautifully, and elusively, presented to us as texts. We will consider both classic and modern writers, from the West and from China; some are explicitly religious, some explicitly secular; some literary, some philosophical. Most of the class will revolve around our talk with each other, interpreting and questioning relatively short texts. The works we will read - by Dante, Dickenson, Zhuangzi, Shklar, and others - are not intended to be representative of traditions, of eras, or of disciplines. They do, however, present a range of viewpoint and of style that will help frame and re-frame our views on the good life. They will illustrate and question the role that great texts can play in a modern 'art of living.' Perhaps most important, they will develop and reward the skills of careful reading, attentive listening, and thoughtful discussion. (Note: preparation and participation in discussion are the primary course requirement. Enrollment at 3 units requires a short final paper; a more substantial paper is required for the 4-unit option.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Yearley, L. (PI)
RELIGST 17N: Love, Power, and Justice: Ethics in Christian Perspective
From its inception, the Christian faith has, like all religions, implied an ethos as well as a worldview, a morality and way of life as well as a system of beliefs, an ethics as well as a metaphysics. Throughout history, Christian thinkers have offered reasoned accounts of the moral values, principles, and virtues that ought to animate the adherents of what eventually became the world's largest religion. We will explore a variety of controversial issues, theological orientations, and types of ethical reasoning in the Christian tradition, treating the latter as one 'comprehensive doctrine' (John Rawls) among many; a normative framework (actually a variety of contested religious premises, moral teachings, and philosophical arguments) formally on par with the religious ethics of other major faiths as well as with the various secular moral theories typically discussed in the modern university. We will learn to interpret, reconstruct, criticize, and think intelligently about the coherence and persuasiveness of moral arguments offered by a diverse handful of this religious tradition's best thinkers and critics, past and present.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Sockness, B. (PI)
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