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Contents | Religions of the
Americas I Instructor Ron Grimes Institution Wilfrid Laurier University |
An introduction to basic questions in religious studies using selected examples of religion in the Americas. The course concentrates on the religious and cultural interactions of people who are of indigenous or African descent as they encounter European religion and culture. We take up fundamental questions such as: What is religion? What is the nature of religious experience? What is religious studies? How is religion related to other sources of identity such as ethnicity and nationality?
September
10 What does a typical introduction to religion do? What does this course offer as an alternative? What is religion?
12 Why study religion? What is the academic study of religion?
17 What is ritual? What is myth?
19 What are the kinds of religious experience? How does it shape identity?
24 In what ways does religion effect human behavior? How do religious institutions and movements work?
26 Exam #1
October
1 Context for studying Louis Riel: Francophone Catholicism; the Métis
3 Discussion: Flanagan, Louis "David" Riel
8 Religion in Louis "David" Riel
10 Film:
15 Context for studying "Jessica:" Religion and drama; Indian-White relations; ethnic and religious identity
17 Discussion: Griffith and Campbell, The Book of Jessica
22 Religion in The Book of Jessica
24 Film:
29 Exam #2
31 Context for studying Mama Lola: African religions; African religions in the Americas
November
5 Discussion: Brown, Mama Lola
7 Religion in Mama Lola
12 Film:
14 Context for studying Malcolm X: African American Christians and Black Muslims
19 Discussion: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
21 Religion in The Autobiography of Malcolm X
26 Film
28 Review and evaluation
Final exam: date and time to be set by the Registrar's Office.
Your mark will based on three examinations (worth 25%, 35%, and 40% respectively) over the following three areas: religious studies, indigenous religions, the religions of African people in the Americas. Exams will cover lectures, discussions, readings, and films. Exams are offered at the times indicated in the course outline; there are no deferred exams. If your schedule prevents your from being at the exams, you should not take the course. If you miss an exam, your mark for it will be a zero. Excuses for missing an exam such as "I over-slept," "We had a flat," "I had a job interview," or "My computer broke" receive sympathy; that's all.
If it seems that there is a lot of reading, please notice that you are not required to write papers or do library research in this course.
http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwaar/syllabi/religions_americas_i-grimes.html
Latest update: August 02, 2002
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