RELS 115 syllabus fall 2012 - Department of Religious Studies

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103Lecture Topics and Reading Schedule for RELS 115The following schedule of topics and the list of readings is provisional. Selections from theElectronic Readings [ER] on OAKS are numbered sequentially. For a complete list of thesources of the assigned readings found on OAKS, see pp. 6-7 below.Week 1Introduction: What is Religion and how do we study it in a secular school?8/21 Organization of Course and Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion8/23 The Social Construction of Reality & the Role of Religion: The Truman Show as Myth(ER #1-3: “Thinking about Being a Student of Religion;” “The Meaning of The TrumanShow; “The Sacred Rac”) RC #1 due Clips from the film The Truman ShowWeek 2The Classical Hindu Worldview: Dreams, Illusion and Reality8/28 Getting Inside the Heads of Hindus: What is Real, What is Illusory?(ER #5-6: “Vedanta” and “The Indian Life”) RC #2 due8/30 The Order of the Hindu Universe: Dharma(ER #7-8: “Hindu Ways of Being Religious;” and Hindu scripture selections: “That YouAre; Creation of the Caste System; Four Castes; Stages of Life for a Twice-Born Man”)Week 3The Hindu Social World: Caste and Gender Hierarchies9/4 Caste as Institution: the Inner Experience of Hierarchy, Purity, and Pollution(ER #9: “The Hierarchical Man”) RC #39/6 The Position of Women in Hindu Patriarchal Society(ER#10: “Indian Women: Traditional and Modern”)Documentary: Saheri’s ChoiceWeek 4Rules for Disposing of the Dead; the Lives of Hindu Wives9/11 Hindu Rites of Passage: Marrying and Burying(ER #11-12: “The Dynamics of Hinduism;” Scriptural selections on “Marriage; How toPerform a Funeral Sacrifice”) In-class quiz on Hinduism9/13 Purity and Pollution in a Brahmin Village: Rite for a Dead Man(Samskara, pp. 1-46) RC #4Week 5Lives of Widows & Renunciants: Ascetic Withdrawal or Social Engagement?9/18 Hindu wives and widows in novel and in film(Samskara, pp. 46-64; ER#13: “The Politics of Melodrama in Water”) RC #5Clips from Water (dir. by Deepa Mehta, 2006)3