Course Requirements:

 

1. Response Papers: Four two-page, double-spaced papers are due on the dates listed in the syllabus. The papers must be critical (i.e., not psychological or emotional) responses to the readings.

The first paper needs to be a response to Silko’s Ceremony in light of class discussion and lectures. The second paper engages Durkheim. The third paper may critique Geertz or analyze the film(s) we watch with respect to Durkheim or Geertz. The fourth paper should discuss Marx or Weber. Since the papers are short, you must select one aspect of the readings to analyze. Consider one theme, point, issue or problem that the author(s) raise(s). Then analyze that one theme, etc. using questions such as the following: Does the author raise it persuasively? What does the author omit in considering it? What would make the argument more persuasive? What would happen to the argument if you substituted a different understanding of ‘religion’? In specific ways can you delineate how the argument might help or change your understanding of the ‘religious’ description you handed in?

You must document these responses, but parenthetical references are adequate, citing author’s last name and page number (e.g., Silko, 160).  These papers are worth 40% of you final grade, 10% each.

 
2. Midterm Exam: Friday, October 8. The mid-term examination is a 5-page take-home essay response to a question I shall make available on Friday, October 1. The purpose of the exam is to give you a chance to step back from the detailed analyses of the response papers and reflect on the course as a whole. Thus the question will be broadly framed, allowing you to incorporate a range of the readings you will have completed by Wednesday, October 7. Please note that five pages do not allow much flexibility. You need to indicate your competence in the readings, but you will not do so by generalizations, sweeping gestures or/and sentences that imply more than they state. It always is better to analyze a few points in great detail than to treat many points in relatively less detail. Consider focusing your answers on one or two texts and broaden the scope of your argument by using footnote and parenthetical references. An effective footnote or parenthetical will not read, e.g., (see also Freud), but will rather elaborate: (Freud also takes up the question of ‘science’ and its relation to ‘religion’ in his essay, ‘The Question of a Weltanschauung’, and he labels religion the greatest ‘enemy’ of science [160] because of its powerful affective hold [161]). The mid-term essay will count 20% of your final grade.

 3. Final Examination: Take-home final will ask you to analyze the novel, The God of Small Things relative to the readings we have covered over the course of the semester. It will consist of broadly-framed essay questions, the point of which is, like the mid-term, to allow you to demonstrate your competence with the course material. This exam will count 30% of your final grade.
 

4. You are required to attend class and to participate. If you do not come or do not participate, you will not have satisfactorily completed this course. I will give a simple, one-question quiz at the top of the class hour on the days you have reading due. These quizzes give me a way to know how well you are digesting the material, as well as serving to take attendance. Together the quizzes count 10% of your final grade.

 

N.B.: If you are ill, or if a family emergency renders you unable to attend or unable to do the assignments I need a letter of excuse from the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. All assignments are due at the beginning of class! Computer difficulties are no excuse. I urge you to do assignments early so that computer difficulties can either be fixed or circumvented. My policy is count the paper down a +/- (a B+ becomes a B) if it is turned in by the end of class, a full grade (a B+ becomes a C+) if it is turned in after class but on the same day, and a full letter grade for each day thereafter (D+, F+, zero).