ANTH 3160: MYTH,RITUAL & MAGIC

An Introduction tothe Anthropology of Religion

T/TH 10:30-11:45 am Animal Science 118

Instructor: Dr. François Dengah

Office hours: T/TH 1-2:30pm (245D Old Main) or by appointment

Email:

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: McKayle Law

Office hours: TH/F12-1 pm, Anthropology Museum or by appointment

Email:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:This course will present an overview of religion and religious practices found throughout the world. Topics to be covered include myth, ritual, magic, witchcraft, shamanism, the prehistory of religion, pilgrimage, the correlation between religion and health, and the social organization and development of religion.Through lectures, discussions, films, and readings,we will explore how and why various religious beliefs and practices are used, performed, and embodied.

**Syllabus subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class and on Canvas.

UNOFFICAL PREREQUISITES:ANTH1010 Cultural Anthropology. This course is based off of fundamental ideas and theories in anthropology. We will not go over these concepts in detail. It is recommended that all students complete the introductory course before attempting this class.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:By the end of this course, students will…

  • Better understand the anthropological approaches for the study of religion
  • Better grasp the role of religious beliefs and practices in the social lives of diverse peoples
  • Improve their social scientific reading comprehension skills
  • Improve their social scientific writing skills

READINGS:

Stein, Rebecca L. and Philip L Stein. The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft. Third Edition. Boston MA, Pearson Education. 2011.

Articles are available on Canvas. See schedule of readings below.

REQUIRED MATERIAL: iClicker v2

ASSIGNMENTS:

1)Examinations:

Midterm Exam: Thursday,OCT 18 Final Exam: Monday, DEC 13,11:30 am -1:20 pm

2) Blog Posts/Writing Assignments:Writing assignmentswill be graded for intellectual content, originality, comprehension of reading material, organization, grammar, spelling, etc. Writing proficiency is an absolute requirement for passing the course.

Approximately every third week students must post on the class blog aboutthat week's topic and assigned readings. These posts must be at least 600 words.Students will chose one of the “Study Questions” at the end of the assigned textbook chapter for their week. Be sure to identify which question you are responding to.For organizational purposes each student will be assigned to one of three groups (Groups A, B, and C).

Every week, all students must post a reaction (~50-100 words) to at least two blog posts written by that week’s group.

**Blogs are due on Tuesday (before class) of the assigned week.

**Responses are due on Thursday each week (before class).

3) Projects:Three class projects (20 pts each) will encourage you to interact and engage with course concepts beyond the classroom.

  1. Participant Observation Activity:Write a 600+ worddescription of participant observation of a religious ritual that is NOT part of your personal faith/religious experience. This exercise requires you to step outside the bounds of your own religious beliefs and behaviors while introducing you to a community of believers different from your own. To complete this assignment, you must attend at least one ritual performance of a faith-based organization to which you do not belong and describe the ritual process using etic as well as emic measures (we will discuss these in class). The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to experience anthropological fieldwork and to deeply engage the concepts of cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, emic and etic forms of analysis, and anthropological theories on the foundations and functions of religion from an anthropological perspective. Reference at least 2 academic sources.
  1. Day of The Dead Shrine: You will construct a Día de Muertosalter for a deceased friend or family member. You may construct it in a number of ways: as an actual shrine in your house, as a diorama, as a drawing, etc. (Please contact me if you are doing something other than these three ways.) You must write 600 words explaining the construction and meaning behind the shrine. Upload the paper and documentation of your shrine (photos) onto Canvas. Be sure to bring copies of your photos and short essay to class on Oct. 27 to present in groups.
  1. Journalism-Style Interview:Interview someone of a faith that is different than your own. Develop a set of 5 questions that address 5 different themes/topics of the course. Write a 600+ wordblog post of the faith, using the responses from your informant. You must also use 3 academic sources.

4) Class Participation:Students are expected to come to class on Tuesday prepared to discuss the readings assigned for the week in question. 7% of final grade will come from weekly, in class quizzes, given through iClickers. Class participation will be evaluated separately from attendance (7% of final grade).

Grading Scheme:

Participation(miss 3 classes or less)20 7%

Weekly Quizzes10 x 2pts20 7%

Midterm exam 4515%

On-line Blog 3 x 20pts 6020%

On-line Blog Replies9 x 5pts 4515%

Projects3 x 20pts6020%

Final exam 5016%

Total points possible: 300 100%

Attendance and Make-Up Policies: Attendance at every class meeting is required. More than three unexcused absences will lower the grade for the course at a rate of 3% per absence (possibly going beyond 7% of the final grade). For extreme circumstances, a 20 page makeup paper will serve in place of a midterm or a 30 page paper in place of the final. You must provide official documentation to explain the extra-ordinary situation (e.g., death certificate) and you must provide notice to the professor at least 24 hours before the scheduled test.

Classroom Conduct: BE POLITE! Reading newspapers, sleeping, surfing the web, emailing, texting, coming in late, etc. are disrespectful to the instructor and the rest of the class and will not be tolerated. Students who persist in these behaviors may be droppedfrom the course.

Plagiarism: There will be 0 tolerance for plagiarism, and you will receive an F in the course. According to USU: “Plagiarism includes knowingly representing, by paraphrase or direct quotation, the published or unpublished work of another person as one's own in any academic exercise or activity without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged used of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials."

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodation will be provided for all persons with disabilities in order to ensure equal participation within the program. If a student has a disability that will likely require some accommodation by the instructor, the student must contact the instructor and document the disability through the Disability Resource Center (797-2444), preferably during the first week of the course. Any request for special consideration relating to attendance, pedagogy, taking of examinations, etc., must be discussed with and approved by the instructor. In cooperation with the Disability Resource Center, course materials can be provided in an alternative format.

====TOPICAL SCHEDULE & READING ASSIGNMENTS====

1:
Aug 30
Sept 1 / Orientation
Chapter 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion
Article: Miner, Horace. "Body ritual among the Nacirema." American
Anthropologist 58.3 (1956): 503-507.
Activity: Making the Familiar Strange: Our own beliefs
2:
Sept
6, 8 / Mythology (Group A)
Chapter 2
Article:Dundes, Alan. "Earth‐Diver: Creation of the Mythopoeic Male."
American Anthropologist 64.5 (1962): 1032-1051.
Activity:Archetypes and trends in secular and religious myths
3:
Sept
13, 15 / Religious Symbols (Group B)
Chapter 3
Article: Obeyesekere, Gananath (1981) Medusa’s Hair: An Essay of
Personal Symbols and Religious Experience
Activity: Meanings behind secular and religious symbols
4:
Sept
20, 22 / Ritual (Group C)
Chapter 4
Article: Sosis, Richard. "Religious behaviors, badges, and bans: Signaling
theory and the evolution of religion." Where God and science meet:
How brain and evolutionary studies alter our understanding of
religion 1 (2006): 61-86.
Activity: Role of BBBs in Religious and Secular Life
5:
Sept
27, 29 / Altered States of Consciousness (Group A)
Chapter 5
Article: Glass‐Coffin, Bonnie. "Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate
Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's
Journey of Discovery and Transformation."Anthropology and
Humanism35.2 (2010): 204-217.
FILM: TBA
6:
Oct
4, 6 / Religious Specialists (Group B)
Chapter 6
Article: Greenfield, Sidney M. "The return of Dr Fritz: spiritist healing and
patronage networks in urban, industrial Brazil." Social Science &
Medicine 24.12 (1987): 1095-1108.
Film: TBA
** PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION ACTIVITY DUE ON THURSDAY, CANVAS BEFORE CLASS.
7:
Oct
11, 13 / Magic and Divination (Group C)
Chapter 7
Article: Shanafelt, Robert (2004) Magic, Miracle, and Marvels in
Anthropology Ethnos 69 (3): 317-340.
Activity:Controlling Reality: Superstitions, Blessing, Miracles, and Luck
8:
Oct 18 / ===MIDTERM ===
Oct 20 / NO CLASS: FALL BREAK: WORK ON DIAde los MUERTOS SHRINE
9:
Oct
25, 27 / Souls, Ghosts, and Death
**EVERYONE**Blog Post on meaning of Personal Shrine
Chapter: 8
Article:Brandes, Stanley. "The Day of the Dead, Halloween, and the quest
for Mexican national identity." Journal of American Folklore
(1998): 359-380.
Activity:THURS: Bring pictures of Shrine and Written Blog Post to share in Groups
10:
Nov
1, 3 / Gods and Spirits (Group A)
Chapter 9
Article: Snodgrass, Jeffrey G. "A tale of goddesses, money, and other
terribly wonderful things: spirit possession, commodity fetishism,
and the narrative of capitalism in Rajasthan, India." American
Ethnologist 29.3 (2002): 602-636.
Film: The Devil’s Miner
11:
Nov
8, 10 / Witchcraft (Group B)
Chapter 10
Article: Nash, June. "Devils, witches, and sudden death." Man's Many
Ways: The Natural History Reader, ed. R Gould (1973): 336-52.
Film: Witchcraft among the Azande
**INTERVIEW QUESTIONS DUE**
12:
Nov
15, 17 / TOPIC: TBA
READ Chapter 11: This will be the basis for the last two weeks.
13:
Nov
22, 24 / THANKSGIVING BREAK NO CLASS
14:
Nov 29 Dec
1 / Religious Extremism and Terrorism (Group C)
Articles:
1.Atran, Scott (2006). The moral logic and growth of suicide terrorism.
Washington Quarterly 29(2): 127-147.
2. Sosis, Richard, and Candace Alcorta (2008). Militants and martyrs:
Evolutionary perspectives on religion and terrorism. Natural security: A
Darwinian approach to a dangerous world: 105-124.
Film: Scott Atran Testifies to the UN
15:
Dec
6, 8 / UFO Religions (EXTRA CREDIT POST)
Articles:
1.Muesse, Mark W. (1997). Religious Studies and “Heaven’s Gate”:
Making the Strange Familiar and the Familiar Strange. Chronicle of
Higher Education.
2.Saliba, John A. (2006). The study of UFO religions.Nova Religio10(2):
103-123.
Film: UFO Files: UFO Relgions
**INTERVIEW DUE**
16:
Dec
13 / FINAL EXAMS11:30 a.m.-1:20 p.m

STUDENTLEARNINGOUTCOMES:Bytheendofthiscourse,studentswill…

ClassObjectives / CourseWork / IDEARating
Better understand the history of anthropological approaches to the study of religion / Readings,discussions,lecture / 2.Learning fundamentalprinciples,generalizations,ortheories
Improve writingandoralpresentationskills / Discussion,blogs,exams / 8.Developing skills inexpressing oneselforallyorinwriting
Better grasp the role of religious beliefs and practices in the social lives of a wide range of societies / Readings,discussion,blogs,exams / 11.Learning to analyzeandcritically evaluate ideas,arguments,and points ofview.

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