Comparative Studies Courses
Click here to jump down to Religious Studies course offerings
This list is undergoing ongoing editing; course schedule and descriptions are subject to change. Please refer to SIS for the most up-to-date information. Contact arceno.1@osu.edu if you notice any discrepancies or have any questions.
Comparative Studies 1100 Introduction to the Humanities: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Online (asynchronous) and In-person | Multiple sections
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
COMPSTD 1100 is an introductory course designed to survey some of the current preoccupations in the Humanities, especially as they relate to culture, power, and identity. Across several sections with varied content, instructors of 1100 seek to present relevant issues in comparative cultural study, employing a mix of cultural theory, current events, and literature, visual, and performing arts with a focus on race, ethnicity, and gender.
Comparative Studies 1100H Introduction to the Humanities: Cross-Cultural Perspectives Honors
TuTh 12:45-2:05 | Lucia Bortoli | Hagerty 259
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
This Honors version of COMPSTD 1100 explores the role of literature and the arts in constructing, maintaining, and questioning the values and beliefs of diverse cultures and historical periods. Topics vary.
COMPSTD 2099 Question of Comparative Studies
M 4:10-5:05 | Hugh Urban | Hagerty Hall 451
This course offers an introduction to the Comparative Studies major. It is designed to help students to take advantage of curricular, research, and advising opportunities; to manage the particular challenges of independent and interdisciplinary work; to link classroom work to social and political engagement with relevant communities; and to prepare for life after graduation. This course is graded S/U.
COMPSTD 2101 Literature and Society
TR 9:35-10:55 | Ilaya Ustel | Mendenhall 174
Second Session Course, TR 11:10-12:30 | Rob Barry | Hagerty 42
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
Study of relationships among politics, society, and literature; analysis of social and political elements of literature and film from diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 2101H (201H, 201).
COMPSTD 2101H Literature and Society Honors
TR 12:45-2:05 | Rhiar Kanouse | Hagerty 42
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
COMPSTD 2105 Literature and Ethnicity
TR 2:20-3:40 | Umut Gurses | Ramseyer 110
COMPSTD/ETHNSTD/SPANISH 2242 Intro to Latinx Studies
TR 2:20-3:40 | Maria Fernanda Diaz Basteris | Mendenhall 191
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity
This course equips students to critically examine the intersectional factors that shape the diverse communities of Latin American descent in the U.S. across cultural, educational, and political spaces. As an introduction to the interdisciplinary approaches of Latinx Studies, and with the goal of informing effective advocacy efforts, the course will draw on multiple analytical tools to examine key themes related to Latina/o/x/e identities, including the use of traditional and new media in the negotiation and construction of Latinidades; how these communities experience race, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, and citizenship; the relationship between bilingualism, code-switching, and sense of belonging; the historical and political factors shaping immigration policies and their impact on Latinx communities; and the systemic barriers in education and strategies to support Latinx students.
COMPSTD/ENGLISH 2264 Intro to Popular Culture Studies
TR 2:20-3:40 | Umut Gurses | Hayes 24
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity
Introduction to the analysis of popular culture texts, with special emphasis on the relationship between popular culture studies and literary studies. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 264, or English 2264 (264). Cross-listed in English.
COMPSTD 2301 Intro to World Literature
TR 9:35-10:55 | Rhiar Kanouse | Mendenhall 185
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity
Analysis of oral and written literatures of diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv.
COMPSTD 2343 Slavery, Gender, and Race in the Atlantic World
TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Zachary Morgan | Mendenhall 175
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity
This course is an examination of slavery in Atlantic Africa and the Western Hemisphere with particular focus on how conceptions of race and gender shaped patterns of forced labor, the slave trade, and the development of European colonial societies in the Americas. Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 243 or AfAmASt 243.
COMPSTD 2345 Comedy, Culture, and Society
TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Melissa Curley | Mendenhall 174
GEN Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
This course takes comedy seriously, as we unpack some of the history and theorization of comedic performance globally and then zoom in specifically on the functions of comedy in contemporary societies. In this process, we will pay close attention to comedic cultural production as a contact zone, especially as it relates to categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and language.
COMPSTD 2350 / ENGLISH 2270 Intro to Folklore
TR 12:45-2:05 | Zahra Abedi | PAES A109
WF 3:55-5:15 | Emily Bianchi | Bolz Hall 118
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity
Folklore is the culture that people make for themselves. Not all of us are specialists, but all of us tell stories and cultivate communities. This class explores everyday expressive forms including stories, customs, objects and digital forms shared in informal contexts. Recurring central issues will include the dynamics of tradition, the nature of creativity and artistic expression, and the construction of group identities. We will consider various interpretive approaches to these examples of folklore and folklife and will investigate the history of folklore studies through readings and an independent collecting project in which students will gather folklore from the field, document it and interpret it for meaning. Under-read and represented texts in the field of folklore were intentionally chosen as readings for this course. By the end of this course, students should gain a basic orientation towards thinking through the power and significance behind the everyday creative expressions of their communities.
Guiding questions: How do people express themselves in traditional forms? How are social concerns articulated in stories, jokes, memes and other genres? How does human creativity burble up in everyday life?
The creation of the syllabus for this iteration of COMPSTD 2350 comes in part from the combination of the recent push to represent underrepresented authors, subjects, and fields of study and the groundwork laid by the American Folklore Society for an accessible revitalization of introduction to American folklore courses. The instructor is grateful for the work already done to bring the less heard voices to the front of the stage when it comes to representing the discipline of folklore to new students.
Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for English 2270 (270), or 2350H.
COMPSTD 2350H / ENGLISH 2270H Intro to Folklore Honors
WF 2:20-3:40 | Emily Bianchi | Bolz Hall 313
This Honors version of COMPSTD 2350 provides a general study of the field of folklore including basic approaches and a survey of primary folk materials: folktales, legends, folksongs, ballads, and folk beliefs. Prereq: Honors standing, and English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 2350, English 2270 (270), or 2270H. GE cultures and ideas course. GE foundation historical and cultural studies course. Cross-listed in English 2270H.
COMPSTD 2367.08 American Identity in the World (ONLINE)
Second Session Course, TuTh 3:55-5:15 | Shaida Akbarian
GEL Writing and Communication, Level 2; GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Writing and Information Literacy
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
American culture viewed from inside and from the perspective of foreign cultures, as seen in literature, film, art, music, journalism, folklore, and popular culture. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv, and Soph standing. Not open to students with credit for 2367.08H.
COMPSTD 2367.08H American Identity in the World Honors (ONLINE)
TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Shaida Akbarian
GEL Writing and Communication, Level 2; GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Writing and Information Literacy
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
This Honors version of COMPSTD 2367.08 considers American culture as viewed from inside and from the perspective of foreign cultures, as seen in literature, film, art, music, journalism, folklore, and popular culture. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv, and Soph standing.
COMPSTD/SPPO/WGSST 2381 REGD in Spanish Film & TV
WF 9:35-10:55 | Lita Camacho-Platero | Arps Hall 012
This course will examine how cinema and television in Latin America, the US, and Spain reflect issues of race, ethnicity, and gender and reveal social attitudes and prejudices. Not open to students with credit for Spanish 2381 or WGSSt 2381. GE foundation race, ethnicity and gender div course. Cross-listed in Spanish and WGSSt.
COMPSTD 2420 American Food Cultures
TR 12:45-2:05 | Rick Livingston | Derby Hall 080
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
In this class, students will analyze and interpret the cultural formation of food in the United States.
Food exists at the intersection between material and meaningful life, making it a key site for understanding the power and limits of cultural explanation. Using a diverse range of primary and secondary sources–including contemporary accounts, historical interpretations, and visual evidence–we will trace the development of American food from its agrarian roots to its industrialization and the emergence of a global food system. Drawing on cultural theories of ritual, imagined community, gender, race and class formation, we will examine recurrent tensions between the standardization and diversification of foodways and persistent debates about the nature and quality of American food. By studying the changing status of the Thanksgiving celebration, we will consider the ethical and political dimensions of American food cultures and aim for an integrated perspective on the development of American food over time.
COMPSTD/THEATRE 3130H Introduction to Performance Studies Honors
M 11:15-2 + W 12:40-1:35 | John Brooks | Lazenby Hall 001
GEN Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
GEN HIP: Research and Creative Inquiry
This introduction to performance studies examines the pervasiveness of performance as a central element of social and cultural life. We will consider a broad array of performances on and off the stage, live and recorded, scripted and improvised, sacred and profane. Prereq: Honors standing; and English 1110.xx, or GE foundation writing and info literacy course. Not open to students with credit for Theatre 3130H. Cross-listed in Theatre.
COMPSTD 3603 Love in World Literature
TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Lucia Bortoli | Page Hall 060
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
Representations of love in world literature; emphasis on mythological, psychological, and ideological aspects of selected representations in different cultures and time periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 3603H (301H) or 301.
COMPSTD 3607 Film and Lit as Narrative Art
MW 3:55-5:15 | Epp Annus | Mendenhall Lab 125
GEL Visual and Performing Arts, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
Relationships between film and literature; emergence of cinematic art as a form of representation with emphasis on diverse cultural traditions. Prereq: English 1110 or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 3607H. GE VPA and diversity global studies course.
COMPSTD 3608 Representations of the Experience of War
MWF 10:20-11:15 | Jason Payne | Mendenhall 191
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
Representations of war in works of literature, religious texts, and film from diverse cultures and time periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 308.
COMPSTD 3686 Cultural Studies of American Musics
MW 11:10-12:30 | Van My Truong | ONLINE
Digital Txtbook Fee(s): $39.48
GEL Visual and Performing Arts, and GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US
GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
Investigation of the social, political, and cultural contexts of the development of popular musics in the U.S.
Prereq: English 1110 or equiv. GE VPA and diversity soc div in the US course. GE foundation lit, vis and performing arts course.
COMPSTD 3903(E) World Literature: Theory and Practice, Embedded Honors
MW 9:35-10:55 | John Brooks| Enarson 230
What does it mean to study literature in a global context? Is it simply a matter of reading more diversely, opening ourselves to what lies beyond our own national literary tradition? Or does it necessarily entail different priorities and approaches? Does world literature enrich our lives through cultural exchange? And what about the realities of “world” writers who can only access a significant audience by writing in English or producing works that “travel well” via translation?
We will tackle these and other questions by examining theories of world literature and reading a variety of literary works. We will also consider topics such as the rise of postcolonial literatures, the impact of globalization and forced migration, and the role of translation. Class assignments include reflective writing, facilitated in-class discussion, and one longer paper/project. Assignments will help you pursue the course goals and participate deeply in a community of learners.
Prerequisites: CS 2301 or CS 3302 or permission from the professor, who enthusiastically welcomes all students interested in a thoughtful exploration of the course topic.
Please note that this course includes a limited number of seats for Honors students.
COMPSTD 4021 Banned Books and the Cost of Censorship
M 9:15-12 | Alyssa Chrisman | Mendenhall 185
GEN Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World
Designed specifically for the Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World GE theme, this course examines competing understandings of citizenship through an interdisciplinary examination of the dramatic rise of book banning in recent years. By reading banned books and examining the debates surrounding them, we establish important connections between diversity, justice, and citizenship. Together, we ask:
- What forces motivate this “new” book banning, and why have there been more book bans in the past three years than ever recorded in U.S. history?
- What do these removals mean for the learners who rely on schools and libraries for access to information and literature?
- How do attempts to censor library materials illuminate broader social, cultural, and political tensions?
As we tackle these questions, we also develop an understanding of citizenship as an engaged practice by which we treat as important the experiences, needs, and interests of a wide range of people. We consider how book banning is symptomatic of a resistance to this kind of citizenship, as when political groups reframe terms like “liberty” and “justice” in ways that exclude others from the privileges that they claim as rights for themselves. We examine the impacts of book banning on young people and their developing literacy, sense of belonging, and access to information. Data and trends in book removals reveal that the negative consequences are especially acute for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other historically marginalized communities. The course locates these issues in local, regional, national, and international contexts.
COMPSTD 4420 Cultural Food Systems and Sustainability
TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Mark Anthony Arceño | Hagerty 56
GEN Theme: Sustainability.
How do human societies around the world respond and adapt to the challenges of food production and consumption in times of change? What cultural practices help define approaches to and/or understandings of sustainability?
Considering food as both a material good and marker of individual or collective identity, this interdisciplinary course asks students to think about how food systems are being transformed amid societal, cultural, environmental, political, etc., change at local/regional, national, and global scales.
We will compare and contrast the experiences of individuals and communities, thinking reflexively of how thematic case studies inform understandings of the overall complexity of food and foodways (i.e., socio-cultural practices related to food production and consumption) in and outside of the United States.
To supplement our in-class meetings and guest lectures, this course includes a three-visit agricultural experiential component at Waterman Lab situated along Carmack Road.
COMPSTD 4597.02 Global Culture
TR 12:45-2:05 | Zach Morgan | Hagerty 46
GEN Theme: Migration, Mobility, and Immobility
This course is designed as an interdisciplinary examination of global culture focusing on the issues and impacts of global capitalism; using the lenses of race, ethnicity, labor (both forced and wage), gender, colony/empire, and liberalism across a broad historical period; from pre-conquest to the contemporary period. Through weekly readings, lectures, film, and discussion (both in person and through discussion threads on Carmen Canvas) we will apply the GE themes of “Migration, Mobility, and Immobility” to contextualize concepts of empire, slavery, capitalism, colonization, decolonization, nationalism, revolution, imperialism, tourism, global warming, international aid, policing, military intervention and media in order to gain insight into modern global cultures.
The course is roughly divided between colonial origins and modern outcomes and stresses the comparative impact of various global forms of labor extraction on modern concepts of racial, ethnic, and gender hierarchy and identity. Strong emphasis will be placed on identifying projects and methods that link the historical to contemporary culture and society.
We will interrogate how global cultures moves through the migration of people (migration), how it circulates (mobility), and how people and cultures are kept rooted in place (immobility) and the variety of consequences produced by the above.
Prereq: Completion of Second Writing course. Not open to students with credit for 597.02. GE diversity global studies and cross-disciplinary seminar course.
COMPSTD 4597.03 Global Folklore
MW 11:10-12:30 | Emily Bianchi | Hagerty 71
GEN Theme: Migration, Mobility, and Immobility
This course provides an exploration of the dynamics of folklore in a global environment. We will interrogate how culture becomes rooted in place (immobility), how it circulates (mobility) and how it moves from one group to another, one context to another (migration), producing a variety of consequences. How do people from all walks of life create meaning and beauty in their everyday lives? How do communities and groups maintain a collective sense of themselves that distinguishes them from other communities/groups, particularly in a period of rapid globalization? What does it mean to respect and conserve cultural diversity? And what do patterns of cultural circulation tell us about relations between individuals and groups, institutions and groups, as well as among nations. Students will begin by learning key concepts of folklore scholarship: culture, place, tradition, performance, genre, the local/global distinction, the folk/popular divide, the interplay of the customary and innovative in folklore production. Students will develop an expansive definition of folklore as the means by which groups both distinguish themselves from as well as fashion bridges with diverse communities. We will look at the ways folklore moves through a range of concepts spanning everything from sacred ritual to touristic display. We will focus on the transmission and transformation of cultural knowledge and practice in situations of want and plenty, peace and conflict, mobility and rootedness attending to the relations of power operating in and through traditional culture.
Prereq: Completion of Second Writing course. Not open to students with credit for 597.03. GE diversity global studies and cross-disciplinary seminar course.
COMPSTD 4645 Cultures of Medicine
TR 2:20-3:40| Perry Miller | Mendenhall 185
GEN Theme: Health and Well-being; 4-credit Original Research and Creative Inquiry
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
Cultures of Medicine provides an introduction to the field of the medical humanities through a focus on access and disability. As a four-credit GE Health and Well-being and Original Research and Creative Inquiry course, it provides students with a comprehensive examination of the social and cultural study of medicine in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies. Students can expect to engage with interdisciplinary approaches to the concepts of health and well-being from across the field of Science and Technology Studies that emphasize the study of the cultures of health and medicine as it relates to systems and structures of power that shape individual, community, and global and transnational experiences of health.
This course will provide students to consider these topics and questions specifically in terms of the issue of “access” to health and well-being. Students can expect to critically engage with questions like: What is access to health and well-being? What is health and well-being, anyway? Who gets to decide? Who gets to be healthy, experience wellness, and thrive? Who doesn’t? Why?
Topics include health equity and access to health and care, medicalization and the relationships between health and categories of social difference like race, gender, and disability, and health and well-being in the context of the environment and environmental crisis and contemporary health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this course will provide students opportunities to critically engage with questions concerning what it means to “access” health and well-being through a comprehensive study of “access” to care and cure, “access” to health, and the differential experience and exposure to illness, debilitation, and death at the individual level, community level, and state level within global and transnational contexts, to understand the complex ways in which cultures of medicine, science, and technology shape access to health and well-being along lines of social difference to distribute life chances unevenly across local, global, and transnational contexts.
As an immersive/experiential “high-impact” course, students will engage in an advanced, immersive “hands-on” course-long research project (Mapping Access) that asks them to apply the concepts, ideas, and theories of the course readings to analyze what it means to access health and well-being in their immediate community, before thinking critically about what it means to engage with health and well-being “beyond access.” As such, by completing this course, students can expect to learn and apply research skills including data collection, documentation, interpretation, and writing.
Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 2341 (272).
COMPSTD/AFAMAST/WGSST 4921 Intersections: Approaches to Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality
TR 12:45-2:05 | Elea Proctor | Location: TBD
Examines intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality in various sites within American culture (e.g., legal system, civil rights discourse, social justice movements). Prereq: One course in CompStd, WGSSt, or AfAmASt. Not open to students with credit for 545, AfAmAst 4921 (545), or WGSSt 4921 (545). Cross-listed in AfAmASt and WGSSt.
COMPSTD 4990 Senior Seminar in Comparative Studies
TR 11:10-12:30 | Spencer Dew | Smith Lab 2150
This capstone course is a writing seminar based on students' independent research. Ideally, students will have Senior standing and have taken or are concurrently taking a a 4000-level course in COMPSTD or RELSTDS.
COMPSTD 5240 / PUBAFRS 5240 / AFAMAST 5240 Race and Public Policy in the United States
TuTh 9:35-10:55 | Miranda Martinez | Page Hall 60
This course explores Race and Public Policy in the United States from Reconstruction to the present. In particular, the class is designed to look at the long list of "hot topics" in the current policy landscape, including policing, housing, wealth gap, immigration, voting, political representation, and others. Cross-listed in African American and African Studies and Public Affairs. Not open to students with credit for AFAMAST 5240 or PUBAFFAIRS 5240.
COMPSTD 5957.02 Folklore in Circulation
M 9-11:45 | Liam Waters | Hagerty 451
Folklore in Circulation: Memes, Conspiracies, and Digital Traditions focuses on the movement and transformation of vernacular culture in online environments. From memes to viral rumors, internet legends to conspiracy theories, we will investigate how folklore circulates through digital networks, mutates across platforms, and gains new resonance in political and popular discourses. We will begin with digital case studies, then situate them within core folkloristic theories of transmission, performance, and tradition. Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to how digital folklore functions as a bottom-up, communal process of meaning-making while also noting how it is frequently appropriated by political actors, ideologies, and corporate interests.
A central theme of the course explores the recycling of traditional motifs and narratives in digital contexts: how tradition is reassembled, parodied, or hybridized in memes, copypasta, and internet legends, to name a few. In exploring this theme, we will consider the role of generative AI as a new agent in the circulation of digital folklore, questioning how algorithmic re-composition challenges assumptions about authorship, authenticity, and the human-centered nature of folklore.
Assignments for this course include weekly readings, discussion, and a hands-on project in which students will collect and document examples of digital folklore currently in circulation. Through this work, students will gain grounding in folklore theory while applying it directly to contemporary digital traditions.
Religious Studies Courses
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This list is current as of October 6, 2024. Course schedule and descriptions are subject to change. Please refer to SIS for the most up-to-date information. Contact arceno.1@osu.edu if you notice any discrepancies or have any questions.
RELSTDS 2102.02 Comparative Sacred Texts (ONLINE)
TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Kate Kaura
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts
Introduction to religious views of the universe, the supernatural, social organization, ethics, etc., through sacred texts (oral and written) of diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Not open to students with credit CompStd 2102.02 (202.02).
RELSTDS 2370 Introduction to Comparative Religion
MW 11:30-12:25 | Seth Josephson | Jennings 355
+ In-Person Recitations | F 10:20-11:15, 11:30-12:25, or 12:40-1:35
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
Introduction to the academic study of religion through comparison among major traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) and smaller communities. Prereq: English 1110 or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 2370H or CompStd 2370H or 2370. GE cultures and ideas and diversity global studies course. GE foundation historical and cultural studies and race, ethnicity and gender div course.
RELSTDS 2370H Introduction to Comparative Religion Honors
TR 11:10-12:30 | Patrick Dunn | TBD
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Diversity
This Honors version of RELSTDS 2370 serves as an introduction to the academic study of religion through comparison among major traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) and smaller communities.
RELSTDS/NELC 3168 History of God
TR 2:20-3:40 | James Moore | Baker Systems 148
GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
Exploration of how the idea of a single God developed in religions having their origins in the ancient near East and the Mediterranean (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hellenistic philosophy) from ancient times to the present. Prereq: English 1110, or GE foundation writing and info literacy course. Not open to students with credit for NELC 3168.
RELSTDS 3666 Magic in the Modern World: From the Golden Dawn to Harry Potter
MW 9:35-10:55 | Seth Josephson | TBD
GEL Cultural Studies, and GEL Literary, Visual or Performing Arts
Since the end of the nineteenth century, there has been a tremendous revival of interest in magic, witchcraft, and paganism throughout the United States, England and Europe. This course will trace the modern revival of magic and neo-paganism, both in new religious movements and in popular culture, literature, music, and film, from roughly the 1870s to the present. The course is designed as the sequel to “Magic and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages and Renaissance” (MEDREN 2666). However, students are also encouraged to take this course either before or without MEDREN 2666.
The course will explore the roots of modern magic in late medieval and early modern sources, and then trace the development of modern magical movements such as the Golden Dawn, Wicca, and modern Druidism. We will pay particular attention to the role of ritual performance, art, and symbolism in the appeal of modern magical groups over the last 150 years. Along the way, we will examine the intersections between these magical groups and various social and political movements, such as second wave and radical feminism and various forms of environmentalism from the 1960s onward. We will also discuss the backlash against modern magic among Evangelical Christians, as well as the “Satanic Panic” that spread across the U.S. in the 1980s. Throughout the class we will also examine the recurring role of magic in popular culture, fiction, film, and television. Since the nineteenth century, modern magic has been closely tied to movements in fiction, poetry, art and music, as we see in the influence of the Golden Dawn on poets such as W.B. Yeats, the influence of occultism on rock and heavy metal music since the 1960s, and the role of magic in novels such as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, The Magicians, and many others.
In addition to close readings of primary and secondary texts, the course will also include guest speakers and several field trips to local neo-pagan events. Students will develop a final group project on a topic of their own choosing to be presented to the class during the last two weeks of the semester.
RELSTDS 3678 Religion and American Culture
MW 11:10-12:30 | Isaac Weiner | Hagerty 46
GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World
Religion is special in America. Religious individuals, communities, and institutions enjoy special legal privileges, such as tax-exempt status and free exercise protection. Religions regularly demand special toleration and respect. Religious freedom is thought to be one of the things that makes America exceptional. But what (and where) is religion in America, and what makes a religion American? What broader issues are at stake when we try to define and locate religion in a society as diverse and pluralistic as our own? How does thinking about religion’s place in American culture help us think more broadly about the meanings of American citizenship – both its scope and its limits?
Though this course will proceed chronologically in part, it offers a thematic approach to exploring these questions, rather than a strictly historical one. We will analyze a series of case studies that will help us think more rigorously, more deeply, and more critically about the vexed relationship between religion and American culture and what this relationship reveals about democratic citizenship and belonging. In the first half of the course, we will concentrate primarily on the relationship between religion and the state. We will look to American law as an important site through which religion has been regulated and policed, defined and differentiated, but also where Americans have turned to seek rights and recognition, to battle over questions of justice, equity, and inclusion. In the second half of the course, we will complicate any neat distinctions between religion and non-religion, sacred and the secular, by turning to the realms of popular culture, consumerism, and entertainment. Taking up examples ranging from musical theater to hip-hop, we will consider how American religion shapes and is shaped by other categories of difference like race, gender, and sex. In the end, you will have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned to another case study of your choice and to reflect on what that case study teaches us about citizenship in a just and diverse world.
RELSTDS 3679 Popular Culture and World Religion
WF 12:45-2:05 | Spencer Dew | Denney Hall 238
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
This course will examine religion in digital media -- how is the internet not only a means for the communication of religious ideas but also a place for religious practice and, indeed, religious experience?
RELSTDS 3972 Theory and Method in the Study of Religion
WF 11:10-12:30 | David Brakke | Mendenhall Lab 173
There are two components to the course. We will first study the “classic” theories of religion, which range from anthropological to sociological to psychological and beyond. What questions and perspectives do these theories bring to religious evidence? Do they “explain” what religion is and does? We will study these in roughly chronological order from the 1870s, when anthropologists began to develop theories of religion, to the 1970s, when departments and programs of “religious studies” had become common in U.S. colleges and universities. The writings in this section form a kind of “canon” with which all scholars of religion are familiar.
We will then consider some more recent approaches to religion that draw on critical theory about culture (e.g., feminism, womanism, performance theory, queer theory, cognitive science). How do these perspectives build on, revise, and/or reject the classic theories? What new questions do they enable us to ask about religious phenomena?
Students will consider these approaches not merely in the abstract, but in relation to specific religious texts, objects, and activities.
RELSTDS 4342 Religion, Meaning, and Knowledge in Africa and Its Diaspora
TR 12:45-2:05 | Spencer Dew | Mendenhall Lab 185
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
This class will introduce some of the traditions and movements native to and popular in the African continent and across the African Diaspora. The semester will be split roughly between attention to religious practice on the continent, with an emphasis on religious responses to colonialism, and religious innovation in the New World, with attention to how religious thought and action responds to slavery and racism. Prereq: Not open to students with credit for AfAmASt 4342. Cross-listed in AfAmAS
RELSTDS 4875 Gender, Sexuality, and Religion: Feminist and Womanist Theologies
TR 9:35-10:55 | Adam Banks | PAES A109
Religion is commonly regarded as an “opiate of the people,” a notion popularized by Karl Marx. The 21st century rise of the “nones” – those with no desire for religious affiliation – reflects a growing suspicion and rejection of religious claims to truth and authority. Entangled in horrific historical processes such as imperialism, genocide, enslavement, and toxic patriarchy, suspicion and rejection is warranted. However, much of the global population remains committed to upholding religious institutional authority, going to great, sacrificial lengths to support its perpetuity. The reason for these efforts is obvious for those who benefit from its permanence; however, the investment in institutions of religion on the part of those oppressed by its existence is quite discombobulating. Why do racial minorities continue to support religion? What attracts LGBTQIA+ folx to religion? Is religion redeeming of subjugated peoples? Or, does religion need to be redeemed? Is religion worth redeeming?
This course will explore feminist and womanist theologians’ interrogation of questions such as these in consideration of historical practices in relation to subjugated peoples. Feminists and womanists, skeptical of religious norms, offer critique as well as alternative approaches to polity, interpretation, and programming. Surveying the theological and theoretical arguments of women/womyn of various class, race, and national backgrounds, this course will unflatten conceptions of religious traditions.