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| Class meetings: | Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00-4:20 pm |
| Class location: | Eggers Hall, Room 010 |
| Instructor: | John Burdick |
| My e-mail: | jsburdic@maxwell.syr.edu |
| Office phone: | 443-3822 |
| Office location: | 404C Maxwell Hall |
| Office Hours: | M W 1:30-3:00 pm |
MAGIC AND RELIGION
ANTHROPOLOGY 373
Spring 2001
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|
| Class meetings: | Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00-4:20 pm |
| Class location: | Eggers Hall, Room 010 |
| Instructor: | John Burdick |
| My e-mail: | jsburdic@maxwell.syr.edu |
| Office phone: | 443-3822 |
| Office location: | 404C Maxwell Hall |
| Office Hours: | M W 1:30-3:00 pm |
Through lectures, readings, films, discussion, and your own field projects, this course will help you develop a better understanding of how people from cultures around the world conceptualize the spiritual realm, and will help you build an understanding of how such conceptualizations are shaped by the values and social relations of the cultures in which they occur.
The first thing you will need to do as a student in this course is to obtain the Course Reader # 6086 at Campus Copier (Marshall Square Mall). All the assigned readings are in the Reader (you will not have to purchase books for this course). From time to time I will distribute, in class, additional articles that I will require that you read.
Please note that this syllabus is accessible on the Web at http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/burdick/magic/default.htm.All course lectures, assignments, handouts and so forth will be posted on the webpage, usually within a day or two of when they were made available in class.
Here is an overview of requirements in the course. Click on each requirement to get a fuller explanation.Course requirements:
Write 4 thematic papers (60% of final grade, @ 15% each)
Paper format, citation and plagiarism policies
Special note for students with disability
Any student with special needs due to disability should see me as soon as possible at the start of the semester so that I can accommodate you appropriately.
Weekly Topics:
NOTE: Please have the assigned reading completed by the days indicated. We will discuss the reading on that day.
| PART 1: TRANSFORMATIONS OF MISFORTUNE | ||
| January 22-24 | Transforming historical misfortune | |
| January 29-31 | Transforming personal affliction | |
| February 5-7 | Transforming uncertainty | |
| PART 2: RELIGIOUS RITUAL: ACCESSING SPIRITUAL POWER, SYMBOLIZING SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS | ||
| February 12-14 | Coming of age rites | |
| February 19-21 | Pilgrimages | |
| February 26-28 | Rites of death | |
| PART 3: TWO PARADOXES: SACRED SEX AND SACRED VIOLENCE | ||
| March 5-7 | Sacred sex | |
| March 19-21 | Sacred violence | |
PART 4: THE SACRED AND SOCIAL IDENTITIES
March 26-28 Food taboos: group boundary or evolutionary adaptation?
April 2-4 Religion and racial identities
April 9-11 Religion and changing gender roles
April 16-18 Religion and the poor
CONCLUSION OF COURSE: IS AN ANTHROPOOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON RELIGION USEFUL?
April 23-25 What happened at Waco