MATERIALITY OF RELIGION, Fall 2005
REL 693 (19876, sec M001)
Friday, 9:30-12:15; 504 Hall of Languages
Professor Philip P. Arnold
Office: 508 Hall of Languages, phone: 443-5718
e-mail: pparnold@syr.edu
Office hours: W 2:30-3:30, and by appointment.
Introduction
The Materiality of Religion' is a way of describing the self-conscious examination of the methodological orientations in the History of Religions. How does one understand and interpret the phenomenon of religion as it expresses itself in its myriad forms? Why does one go through the exhausting work of learning languages, reading ancient texts in dead languages, visiting foreign lands and people to write about other religions? In some ways the emphasis on “materiality” or religious phenomena is a distinct way of approaching the topic of religion. It is in contrast to an angle of investigation which emphasizes intellectual, or internal, processes for religion. Historians of religion have tended to be interested in religious expressions “on the ground” rather than in a book. We soon discover, however, that the distinction between “stuff” and “ideas” in religion is an artificial one and is perhaps more useful in dividing the labor of doing History of Religions rather than in dividing scholars. In the end this is a different kind of course in religious theory and methodology which primarily orients itself to phenomena rather than ideas.
The theme of this course has changed again this year. I am currently working on a book on Iroquois understandings and uses of wampum and its relationship with money. As a consequence I have chosen the topic of “religion as exchange” to orient our theoretical reflections. All the reading for the class reflects religious dimensions of exchange. Again, I am more interested in theorizing out of the phenomenon of exchange systems rather than reading about abstract ideas on the topic of money, for example. Also, embedded in the reading list are a few Historians of Religion who will help orient our reflections on the topic. As this is a book project in process I am looking forward to thinking through these issues with all of you.
Although I have determined the contours of the seminar, each of you will set the direction for your reading and writing for the class. You will all make short presentations on books of your choice to generate discussion. Therefore you should very quickly determine those books you want to present to the class and those you want to read. These decisions should be based on exams, areas of interest, etc. In class we will negotiate for titles to be presented on during our first meeting.
Required Texts:
Bakhtin, RABELAIS AND HIS WORLD
Eliade, MYTH OF THE ETERNAL RETURN
Eliade, PATTERNS IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Long, SIGNIFICATIONS
Mauss, THE GIFT
Merleau-Ponty, PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION
Otto, THE IDEA OF THE HOLY
Simmel, THE PHILOSOPHY OF MONEY
Additional
Reading for “Materiality of Religion,”
REL 693, Fall 2005
Posted
on the Blackboard class site (http://blackboard.syr.edu/)
1) Mircea Eliade, "The New Humanism," In Waiting for the Dawn: Mircea Eliade in
Perspective. Edited by Davíd
Carrasco and Jane Marie Swanberg.
(Westview Press,, 1985), pp. 35-44.
2) J.Z. Smith, “Forward,” In Imagining Religion
(University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp xi-xiii.
3) Charles Winquist, “Materiality and Theoretical Reflection”,
In Surface of the Deep (Davies Group, 2003), pp. 191-199.
4) Charles H. Long, “"A look at the Chicago tradition in the history of religions: retrospect and future.” In The History of Religions: Retrospect and Prospect, edited by Joseph M. Kitagawa (New York: Macmillan, 1985) pp. .
5) Gerardus Van der Leeuw, Foreword by Ninian Smart and
“Epilegomena.” In Religion in Essence
and Manifestation (Princeton U. Press, 1986 [1938])), pp. ix-xix; 671-695.
6) Karl Marx, “The Commodity” and “The Process of
Exchange.” In Part One: Commodities and
Money, Book I: The Process of Production of Capital, Capital, volume 1
(Penguin Classics, London, 1990 [1867]), pp. 125-187.
7) Jacques Derrida, “Injunctions of Marx.” In Specters of Marx; The State of Debt,
the Work of Mourning, and the New International (Routledge, 1993), pp.
3-48.
8) Mark C. Taylor, “Discrediting God.” In About Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 7-28.
9) Lester K. Little, “From Gift Economy to Profit Economy” and
“Adapting to the Profit Economy.” In Religious
Poverty and the Profit Economy of Europe (Cornell U. Press, 1978), pp.
3-41.
Other Texts Helpful
for Final Papers:
Appadurai, THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THINGS
Apter, FETISHISM AS CULTURAL DISCOURSE
Bourdieu, OUTLINE OF A THEORY OF PRACTICE
Burris, EXHIBITING RELIGION
Chidester, SAVAGE SYSTEMS
Derrida, GIVEN TIME
Douglas, THE WORLD OF GOODS
Godelier, THE ENIGMA OF THE GIFT
Greenblatt, MARVELOUS POSSESSIONS
Howes (ed), CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMPTION: GLOBAL MARKETS, LOCAL
Leach, LAND OF DESIRE
LeGoff, YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE
Malinowski, ARGONAUTS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC
_________, CORAL GARDENS AND THEIR MAGIC
Moore, SELLING GOD
Murray, INDIAN GIVING, ECONOMIES OF POWER IN INDIAN-WHITE EXCHANGES
Pahl, SHOPPING MALLS AND OTHER SACRED SPACES
Radin, CONTEXTED COMMODITIES
Sahlins, STONE AGE ECONOMICS
Schmidt, CONSUMER RITES
Shrift, THE LOGIC OF THE GIFT
Strathern, THE GENDER OF THE GIFT
Taussig, THE DEVIL AND COMMODITY FETISHISM IN SOUTH AMERICA
________, THE MAGIC OF THE STATE
Thomas, ENTAGLED OBJECTS
Usner, INDIANS, SETTLERS, AND SLAVES IN A FRONTIER EXCHANGE ECONOMY
Weber, THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
Weiner, INALIENABLE POSSESSIONS
Schedule of reading and writing:
Weekly papers and responses will be posted to the class Blackboard site (http://blackboard.syr.edu/) each Wednesday before Friday seminars (5 points). You will have until the following Wednesday after the paper is posted to make your responses to at least 2 different papers (2 points).
2 September Introductions
9 September What is (the history of) religion? Eliade, Smith, Winquist, Long
16 September Origins and Power Otto, van der Leeuw
23 September Phenomenology Merleau-Ponty
30 September Patterns Eliade
7 October Signifying Long
14 October Problems of Time Eliade, Myth
21 October Gift Mauss
28 October Folk culture Bakhtin
4 November Eid Ur-Fitr, no class
11 November Commodities and religion Marx, Little
18 November Money Simmel
25 November AAR/Thanksgiving, no class
2 December Ghosts of the gift Derrida, Taylor
9 December Final papers/presentations
Grading
Final grades will be based on weekly papers, your responses to other student papers, a final paper, and class attendance and participation.
Weekly discussion papers and responses: Each week you are responsible for writing a short paper on the assigned readings. The paper is to be 750 to 1000 words (3 to 4 pages, double spaced) and posted on the class Blackboard site (http://blackboard.syr.edu/) by the Wednesday before the Friday seminar (see the class schedule). You will receive up to 5 points each week for your paper depending on its quality. You will also be asked to respond to at least 2 other papers of your peers each week for which you will receive 2 points. You will have until the Wednesday after the due date for the paper to make your responses. There are a total of 11 papers for a possible total of 77 points.
Final paper, presentation and response: The final paper and presentation where you can articulate your own thinking about the topic. This is to be your own work generated by course materials but expanding on the methodological and interpretive features of the reading. The paper should be approximately 2500 words (10 pages, typed, double-spaced) and with any additional bibliography cited. The final papers are worth up to 15 points and must be posted on the last Wednesday of the class. Also you are to make at least 2 responses to other students work for an additional 4 points. The final class time will be devoted to your very short presentation of your final paper.
The criteria listed below are used when assessing your written work. Percentages are only to demonstrate the relative weight of each of the criteria in any given assignment.
· Clarity. The viewpoints you present in your writing must be clearly conceived and well argued. Your writing style should be straight-forward, easy to read and should be clearly related to the issues you wish to address. Topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph are helpful in establishing the issue and argument for the reader at the outset. (40%)
· Engagement with the material. Entries are to be related to the reading material. They are not reviews of what has been stated in the book but are your critical analysis of the reading. Avoid direct quotes. Instead seriously take-up what you consider to be the ‘key’ issues for the study of religion in the reading. An analysis of the issues discussed in the course become clearer the closer your writing is to the texts used in class. (40%)
· Creativity. The ‘work’ of Religious Studies, and perhaps the Humanities in general, is essentially creative. Interpretation of religious phenomena requires that you come to some meaningful relationship with your object of study. This is one of the defining characteristics of creativity. You have a unique and important contribution to make to our collective understandings. There are no predetermined experts in the area of interpretation, only well refined and well argued positions. Your interpretations will be dealt with as importantly as you regard them yourself. (20%)
Attendance and class participation: You will be required to attend class unless prior notice of your absence has been given to Professor Arnold. You will be expected to have read the material and come to the seminar prepared to participate in class discussion. For your being regularly involved in the seminar you will receive an additional 4 ponts.
Grades will be calculated on the following basis:
11 weekly discussion papers and responses 77 points
Final paper, presentation and responses 19 points
Attendance and class participation 4 points
100 points
A 90-100 points
A- 88-90 points
B+ 84-87 points
B 81-83 points
B- 78-80 points
C+ 74-77 points
C 71-73 points
C- 68-70 points
D+ 64-67 points
D 61-63 points
D- 58-60 points
F 57 points and below