FF:RLMgA005 Religion and the Body - Course Information

RLMgA005 Religion and the Body

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 9 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Jakub Cigán, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Milan Fujda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Aleš Chalupa, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Eva Kundtová Klocová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Dalibor Papoušek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Iva Doležalová (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Radek Kundt, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Tereza Menšíková (lecturer)
Dr. phil. Anna Michalík Kvíčalová, MA (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. PhDr. David Zbíral, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts

Timetable

Thu 14:00–15:40 J21

Prerequisites (in Czech)

TYP_STUDIA(MND)

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Study of Religions (programme FF, N-RL_) (3)

Course objectives

The course focuses on religious symbolization, use, and disciplining of the body and bodily experience; on bodily practice and performance in the context of religion and spirituality; on religious representations of the body and corporeality as tools of cognition, classification, and constitution of symbolic boundaries; and on the discursive formation of gender and other aspects of identity through the body. Lectures address these topics within individual case studies of particular material from different areas, periods and environments. Students work on a similar written case study from the thematic scope of the course.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students will be able to:

recall and analyze the problems addressed by the course, framed by the concept of religious uses of the body, and by the concept of gender;

identify the contribution and consequences of the analyzed cases to theory and method in the study of religions and in the social sciences more generally;

formulate a research project proposal of a case study concerning the religious uses of the body or gender;

present and defend a paper respecting the requirements of an academic text;

adopt and justify a stance on gender as a structural factor in the institutional academia.

Syllabus

• The body in social scientific theory (Milan Fujda)
• Communication with God as bodily experience: A cognitive perspective (Jakub Cigán)
• Creating boundaries through the body: Debates between ascetic and socially constructive Christianity about the body and the material world (David Zbíral)
• The body in intercultural communication: The case of Paul of Tarsus (Dalibor Papoušek)
• Marginalizing through the body: Castes and social exclusion in southern Asia (Milan Fujda)
• Seminar discussion of preliminary proposals of topics for student projects (David Zbíral)
• Overcoming the bodily/non-bodily divide: The case of Manichean eschatology (Aleš Chalupa)
• Disciplining of the body and technologies of the self: Searching for the “natural” womanhood in contemporary alternative spiritualities (Michaela Ondrašinová)
• Gender in the study of religions as an institutionalized tradition: Discussion (Jana Valtrová)
• The body as means of ritual communication (Eva Kundtová Klocová)
• The body as means of creating religious contents (Eva Kundtová Klocová)
• The body as subject: Corporeality and illness (Milan Fujda)

Literature

required literature
• HAMAR, Eleonóra. Náboženství a tělo. Teoretické perspektivy v diskursu religionistiky (Religions and the body: theoretical perspectives in the study of religions). In DOLEŽALOVÁ, Iva, Eleonóra HAMAR and Luboš BĚLKA. Náboženství a tělo. Brno: Masarykova universita, 2006, p. 15-22, 7 pp. ISBN 80-210-4115-3. info
• Další četba dle individuálního projektu. / Further reading depending on the individual project.

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion, discussion about the topics of essays, research project proposal with written feedback from the teachers, essay.

Assessment methods

Research project proposal on a topic congruent with the course’s focus (50 points = 33 %). Carrying out of the proposal in an essay submitted in the exam period (80 points = 53 %). Oral presentation and defence of the essay in the exam period (20 points = 14 %). Participation in the classes (extra points included in the total points).

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2023, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2023/RLMgA005