SAN102 Critical Interpretation of Religion

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2017
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Irena Kašparová, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Irena Kašparová, M.A., Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 9:45–11:15 U43
Prerequisites
Passing through the Introduction to Social Anthropology (SAN 101). Elementary knowledge about Judaism, Christianity, Islam and at least one of the religions of the East (Hinduism, Buddhism).
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
One semester course introducing to the selected topics of anthropological perspective on religion. The course is not outline general overview about world religions, rather it focuses on classic topics of anthropological approach to the religion (sacral and profane, myth and ritual, magic and witchcraft) and on discussing means by which are being these topics constructed and lived.

Main objectives can be summarized as follows:
presentation of the main approaches to religion in social anthropology;
to gain ability to apply anthropological perspective on the study of religion;
to understand and analyze religious experience as an experience bounded by specific mode of thinking and knowledge.
Syllabus
  • I.
  • Religion as an anthropological category, colonial legacy (Clifford Geertz, Talal Assad)
  • Perspectivism and the study of religion
  • Religious and non-religious explanation of reality
  • "Primitive" and "advanced" religions. Written religions
  • II.
  • Myth, cosmology I. (Bronislaw Malinowski, Mircea Eliade, Ernst Cassirer)
  • Myth, cosmology II. (Émile Durkheim, Claude Lévi-Strauss)
  • Ritual I. (Marvin Harris, Mary Douglas)
  • Ritual II. (Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner)
  • III.
  • Pilgrimages (Victor Turner, John Eade)
  • Religion and human body
  • Continuity and change: tradition, cargo cults
  • Diasporas. Religion and globalization
  • Religion and politics
Literature
  • BOWIE, Fiona. Antropologie náboženství. Translated by Vladimír Petkevič. Vyd. 1. Praha: Portál, 2008, 335 s. ISBN 9788073673789. info
  • DURKHEIM, Émile. Elementární formy náboženského života :systém totemismu v Austrálii. Vyd. 1. Praha: OIKOYMENH, 2002, 491 s. ISBN 80-7298-056-4. info
  • DOUGLAS, Mary. Purity and danger :an analysis of the concepts of pollution and taboo. 2nd impr. with corr. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969, viii, 188. ISBN 0-7100-8827-2. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, reading, class discussion
Assessment methods
Course requirements:
3 written essays (1200 words); class participation; oral exam.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2017, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2017/SAN102