Master
2024/2025
Аnthropology of Religion
Type:
Elective course (Global and Regional History)
Area of studies:
History
Delivered by:
Department of History
When:
1 year, 1 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of all HSE University campuses
Instructors:
Cleto Junior Pinto de Abreu
Master’s programme:
Global and Regional History
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
Questions of religion have been central to anthropology from its beginnings and remain so today when religion (re)emerges as a global force. While early scholarship perceived religious phenomena through the skeptical lens of secular science, recent critiques have brought up anthropology’s own orthodoxies and the need for theoretical and methodological renewal. Every new paradigm took up the challenge to explain religion and its pervasiveness in human culture and society. The anthropology of religion emerged out of such creative tensions as a vibrant field of theoretical inquiry and impressive scholarship. The course is structured around major themes that have shaped the study of religion, exploring topics such as discipline, agency, gender, mediation, the secular and secularism, religious worlds, and the ethnography of religion, aiming for a deep and critical understanding of religion in various cultures and societies.
Learning Objectives
- The aim of the course is to introduce students into current theoretical debates in the filed of anthropology of religion.
- The aim of the course is to discuss anthropological approach to the study of religion
Expected Learning Outcomes
- A student compares research design
- Able to solve professional problems based on synthesis and analysis
Course Contents
- Introductory Session
- Critiques of “Religion”
- Ethnography of Religion
- Religious Discipline, Agency, and Gender
- Religion and Mediation
- Religion World-Making: Time
- Secular, Secularism, and Secularization
Assessment Elements
- seminar participationspecifically for one presentation on the course readings
- final essay examThis is an essay-long discussion based on two questions (each contributing 35% to the total grade of the at-home essay) that will be randomly selected from the exam question list for each student and sent at the beginning of the evaluation week. The exam asks students to debate across empirical material and different approaches covered in the course. Specifically, in answering each of these questions, students are required to use at least three different pieces of writing from the course syllabus, ensuring not to repeat material in the discussion of each of the two questions. Essay length: 2000-4000 words for both questions (each response must have at least 1000 words). Each question within the essay will be evaluated based on the following criteria: structure (adherence to the word count for each question), use of sources (incorporation of at least three distinct readings from the syllabus for each response), analytical rigor (ability to critically assess the merits and limitations of the approaches studied), comprehension (demonstration of a thorough understanding of the course content), and originality (development of a unique perspective in addressing each question, without recycling arguments or examples from the texts).
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- James S Bielo. (2015). Anthropology of Religion: The Basics. Routledge.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bielo, J. S. (2016). A companion to the anthropology of religion. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 24(1), 103–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12247