ANTH40R15: Ritual, Religion, and Belief (Advanced)

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• This module explores themes which fall under the broad headings of religion and religiosity. More specially the module aims to:
• Provide a cross-cultural overview of the theoretical and ethnographic importance of the anthropological studies of religion
• Cover key theories of religion in social anthropology, supported by ethnographic case studies
• Consider the form that religious practices take in a variety of different societies and communities and their relationship with political, economic and cultural life
• Provide an in-depth and broad knowledge of religion and its importance to human sociality
• Examine critically the relationship between the practice of different religions and forms of religiosity for social organisation, identities, and culture
• Provide an awareness of how a theoretical and ethnographic awareness of these topics might help understand critical events and controversies in the contemporary world.

• The indicative content of this module is: Overview of key issues in the anthropology of religion followed by coverage of the following major themes: ritual and belief, shamanism and cosmology, religion and race; secularism; ethnographies of world religions.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Understand the place religion in human societies, and the various ways it has been theorised by anthropologists.
• Be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of representative ethnographic cases (present and past, Western and non-Western).

Subject-specific Skills:

• Have an understanding of the basic conceptual vocabularies of religion.
• Be able to analyse the symbolic foundations of religious practices.

Key Skills:

• Library research
• Debating skills
• Note taking
• Essay writing
• Critical reading and analysis.

• Lectures and seminars introduce students to the material and enable discussion of it, informed by wider reading.
• Lectures may include pre-recorded videos, live presentations, and/or interactive components as appropriate to the material covered from week to week.
• Seminars allow students to explore and discuss material from the lectures and readings in depth with their tutors and peers.
• Formative assessment is by one 500 word essay outline.
• Summative assessment is by one 3000 word essay.

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