Admission requirements
Only the following categories of students can register for this course:
Students enrolled for the BA programme “CA-DS” at Leiden University who are in their 3rd year
Students enrolled for the Minor CA-OS
Exchange and Study Abroad students who have been admitted to this course
Pre-master students who have completed their Admission procedure for the master CA-DS and have been formally admitted to this course as part of the pre-master programme.
Please see the registration procedure below.
Description
Developmental models have long assumed that economic growth would result in the privatization and eventual decline of religion. In short, religion and modernity have long been considered incompatible. This secularisation paradigm has been fundamentally challenged at the end of the twentieth century, when worldwide political movements emerged that identify first and foremost in religious terms. In the US (in many ways the proverbial heartland of ‘late’ modernity), religious movements continue to inspire politics, and the same holds true for many other political arenas worldwide. The renewed inspiration that religions provide in times of globalisation has also posed new challenges to the presumed disparity between religion and secularism. Rather than perceiving religion and secularism as constituting distinct realms, both appear embedded in broader discourses on (for instance) knowledge, claim making and difference. Consequently, social scientists increasingly consider ‘religion’ a category that can—from an academic perspective—not be fruitfully ‘set apart’. Rather, it should be studied in relation to social and political phenomena as varied as political movements, healing practices, and eschatological knowledge.
This course approaches ‘religion’ as a social phenomenon, that is, a category that is acknowledged and referred to in the social contexts anthropologists and sociologists study. Approaching religion across various levels of scale allows for differentiation between people practicing religion, and groups or organisations who claim religious authority over others. A critical understanding of religion, in its experiential, performative and political dimensions, is an important requirement for anthropologists and sociologists who are engaging in either academic or policy related research, or a combination of the two.
Course objectives
The course aims for students to:
To learn how to analyze religious movements in their historical and political contexts.
Acquire an understanding of key debates in the anthropology of religion.
To become familiar with key terms in the anthropology of religion.
Acquire the ability to critically engage with primary sources – textual and audio/visual – and make connections between multiple sources
Identify, analyse and problematize the religious dimensions of social issues in the contemporary world.
Time table
Dates and room numbers can be found on our website, under "3e jaar, Hoorcolleges S2".
Mode of instruction
10 ECTS = 280 sbu (study hours)
Lectures 12 × 2 hours: 36 sbu
Group discussions 12 × 1 hours: 24 sbu
Study of literature 660 pp: 110 sbu
5 bi-weekly assignments: 30 sbu
Final paper on topic of student’s choice (3.500 words): 80 sbu
Assesment method
Five bi-weekly assignments (60%)
One final paper (40%)
Class participation (rounding off)
Re-take for assignments/ papers is only possible if the final grade is below 6, if the student has actively participated in the course and submitted all of the preceding assignments/ papers.
Blackboard
The blackboard module will be active.
All participants must register for this course on Blackboard.
Reading list
A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion, Edited by Janice Boddy and Michael Lambek, Chichester: John Wiley (2015) (paperback edition), ISBN10:1119124999 & ISBN13:9781119124993. The book is available at bol.com or at amazon.de. It is also allowed to use the kindle or ebook editions.
Readings that are electronically available for download through the Leiden University Library webportal.
Registration
Registration in Usis is obligatory for the lectures (H) for all participants. Please consult the course registration website for information on registration periods and further instructions.
Registration for the exam is NOT necessary because this course does not have one final (classical) exam.
NB: Exchange students: those who have officially been admitted to this course during the Admission Procedure, will be registered in usis by the faculty-administration.