Course Stuff · 2018-02-06 · •Give four examples of hybridity involving specific religious...
Transcript of Course Stuff · 2018-02-06 · •Give four examples of hybridity involving specific religious...
• Give four examples of hybridity involving specific religious traditions.
• Use three theories of culture to interpret the cartoon shown today.
• Explain Geertz’s definition of religion using examples from any two traditions.
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Course Stuff
• Film Analysis: extension to February 20➡ Because Family Day
• TA office hours tomorrow (Wed)
➡ Saliha and Patrick: 2:30-4:30pm in CC
• Field Research Contract: extension (with penalty) to February 20➡ If you have no group contact me or TA
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• Coming soon: instructions!
• Attend a religious ritual or ceremony with your group
➡ Contact site ahead of time (note possible rules -- e.g., head covering, no shoes, etc.)
➡ Observe everything! (Not just what you think is “religious”)
➡ Take selfie of group at religious site
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Field Research Analysis
• Best to know as little as possible about the religious tradition in advance
➡ Not your own religion
➡ Do no research
• Analyze observations using Nye’s text
➡ Culture OR power OR gender
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Field Research Analysis
Next week:Reading Week!
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6. Culture
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Today• Finish: “Texts”
1. What do (sacred) texts mean?
2. Which (sacred) texts do we study?
3. Why study (sacred) texts?
• Film Analysis
• Culture
1. What is “culture”?
2. How do we study religion and culture?
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• Authorship (p. 169–71): Michel Foucault + Roland Barthes
• Readers (p. 176–8):Wolfgang Iser + Stanley Fish
• Gender (p. 178): Judith Fetterley + Julia Leslie
• Language + interpretation (p. 158–9): Jacques Derrida
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Meaning of Texts? Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important 2. The meanings of texts are variable
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Parks and Recreation S05E19
citizens shall dump Ted into Ramsett Lake
what the founders meant
The Pawnee Charter
• Leslie: being logocentric re: Ted / tea
➡ Misreading
• Seize any Indian property
➡ Misreading re: Tom (but still applies to Native Americans; needs to change)
• Women vs. land-owning males:
➡ NOT a misreading
➡ Still applies (needs to change)13
Which Texts?
• Quotation marks? (“Texts”)
➡ Oral “texts”
➡ Visual “texts” (movies, TV, internet, etc.)
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Which Texts?
• Roland Barthes, Mythologies
➡ All “texts” matter
➡ University: “popular” vs “academic”
➡ Stories, poems, films, TV shows, lyrics, commercials, billboards, etc., etc.
➡ Don’t assume which “texts” are “sacred”
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Why Texts?
• Max Müller:
➡ Texts are the MOST IMPORTANT
➡ Study of religion = study of sacred texts
➡ Beliefs, origins, (male) founders
➡ “Pure” tradition vs. change over time + how actual people practice their religion
➡ Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther) emphasized texts (“sola scriptura”)
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• Power of words / language
➡ Names, laws, stories
➡ United States: illegal for slaves to read
➡ Gerald Ratner’s 1991 speech (“crap”)
➡ Prof. Marrus: “You know this is your master, eh? Do you feel the lash?”
➡ Malaysia: “Allah” illegal for non-Muslims to use/say
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Why Texts?
#MeToo
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Why Texts?
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but . . .”
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Why Texts?
“Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also
put them back together. I hope you use yours for good.”
― Taylor Swift
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Why Texts?
• We have studied:
➡ Belief
➡ Ritual
➡ “Texts”
• These are often connected!
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Pause for Reflection
Hakuna Matata
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Eucharist
Eid al-Fitr
Film Analysis
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• Submission:
➡ Blackboard: “Film Analysis”
➡ Turnitin.com: “Revision 1: Film Analysis”
• Due February 20
Film Analysis
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• Documents posted on Bb(“Film Analysis” > “Film Analysis”)
1. Instructions
2. Theories (chapters 5, 6, 7)
3. Grading rubric
Film Analysis
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• 4 paragraphs in total:
1. Belief (revised)
2. Ritual
3. Texts
4. Reflection
Film Analysis
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• Analysis (paragraphs 1-3):
➡ Introduction (=topic sentence[s] = brief statement of link between theory + film)
➡ Body (=explanation of theory + use of theory to analyze film, with evidence)
➡ Conclusion (=message of the film; get here by using theory!)
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Final Film Analysis
Each paragraph can have different message
• Reflection (paragraph 4):
➡ What you learned about religion (or study of religion) from film analysis
1. Past: what did you used to think?
2. Present: what do you think now? Why?
3. Meaning: why does what you learned matter? (“So what?”)
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Final Film Analysis
Culture!
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1. Big picture stuff:
➡ What is “culture”?
➡ What do we study?
2. Specific theories:
➡ How do we study religion and culture?
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Culture
• What is “culture”?
➡ Everything!
➡ Music, film, literature, fashion, food, etc.
➡ Also religion!
• What do we study?
➡ Everything!
➡ “Elite/high” and “popular/low”33
CultureNye p. 24-36
Name that religion!
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• What is “culture”?
➡ Everything!
➡ Music, film, literature, fashion, food, etc.
➡ Also religion!
• What do we study?
➡ Everything!
➡ “Elite/high” and “popular/low”37
Culture
• What is “culture”?
➡ Everything!
➡ Music, film, literature, fashion, food, etc.
➡ Also religion!
• What do we study?
➡ Everything!
➡ “Elite/high” and “popular/low”38
Culture
Culture
• Culture / religion: always changing➡ Hybridity (syncretism) = mix of different
cultures / religions (e.g., James Clifford)
➡ New circumstances/ideas/technology(not necessarily the same as hybridity)
➡ Result of mixing is often hard to understand / predict
➡ May be very POSITIVE39
Song!
• “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga (2010)
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In Praise of Mixed Religion
by William Harrison
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Princess LeiaStar Wars IV: A New Hope
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Spider-Man 252
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#MuslimRage
• NO BEEF PEPPERONI AT PIZZA HUT?! #MuslimRage
• my dad when Pakistan's cricket team loses #MuslimRage
• no WiFi in the mosque #MuslimRage
• Lost your kid “Jihad” at the airport. Can't yell for him. #MuslimRage
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Anchored by a strong Jewish identity and driven by a mission to connect Jews around the globe with their heritage through music, professional
Jewish a cappella group Six13 are the originators of today’s Jewish a cappella sound.
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Culture
• Probably non-useful theories for assignment:
➡ Culture is what people do (Hall)
➡ Each group has its own culture (Tylor)
➡ Religion can also create divisions (Nye)
➡ Religion as “social glue” (Durkheim)
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Culture
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• Possibly useful theories for assignment:
➡ Sub-cultures and resistance (Hebdige)
➡ Power: popular vs. elite (Williams/Hall)
➡ Change/hybridity/syncretism (various)
➡ Religion = society (Durkheim)
➡ Religion = symbols, factuality, etc. (Geertz)
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Culture
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• Possibly useful theories for assignment:
➡ Sub-cultures and resistance (Hebdige)
➡ Power: popular vs. elite (Williams/Hall)
➡ Change/hybridity/syncretism (various)
➡ Religion = society (Durkheim)
➡ Religion = symbols, factuality, etc. (Geertz)
Durkheim’s theory: “religion is merely society perceiving itself,
misunderstanding that the sacred basis of the group is simply the sum of the social
whole.” (Nye p. 45)
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