Anthropology of Religion
Objectives
The curricular unit provides an overview of anthropological approaches to religious phenomena, focusing on contemporary theoretical convergences and divergences around key issues such as: commensurability and incommensurability, religious pluralism and variation of actors, the sacred and the supernatural in the problematics of defining religion, the "reenchantment" of anthropology and the world. At the same time, students will explore the
historical and political dimension of religious phenomena in colonial and post-colonial contexts, encompassing dimensions of interaction between religion and "globalization" from the perspective of its antecedents. Students are expected to: acquire knowledge of the concepts and lexicon inherent to the discipline and their theoretical and contextual variations, in a comparative approach of authors and perspectives; develop critical analysis and
interpretation skills, as well as ethnographic and historical sensibility around case studies.
General characterization
Code
711001059
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Frederico Delgado Chaves Rosa
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 168
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
N/A
Bibliography
Bowie, Fiona. 2006. The Anthropology of Religion. An Introduction. Malden: Blackwell, pp. 62-79.
Cannell, F. (org.). 2006. The Anthropology of Christianity. Durham: Duke University Press
Harvey, Graham, 2017. Animism. Respecting the Living World. London: Hurst & Co.
Lambek, M. (org.) A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, London: Blackwell.
Lanternari, Vittorio. 1960. Movimenti religiosi di libertà e di salvezza dei popoli oppressi, Milano: Feltrinelli.
Lehmann, A.C., J. Myers & P.A. Moro. 1985. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion. An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural. Boston: McGraw Hill
Lessa, W. & E. Vogt (org). 1985. Reader in Comparative Religion. An Anthropological Approach. New York: Harper & Row
Morris, B. 1987. Anthropological Studies of Religion. Cambridge: University Press
Teaching method
Classes follow a theoretical-practical methodology, with the lecturer first presenting the key ideas of each curricular point, using selected quotes and images, and in an open mode of interaction with the students through questions, comments and free interventions. In a second moment, students are invited to analyze in detail, through collective discussion, certain passages or other content that allow them to delve deeper into the subject synthetically exposed, and to carry out small exercises of analysis and interpretation in groups. In some classes, a third component consists of debates on the subject covered.
Evaluation method
The curricular unit offers alternative forms of assessment, namely two written tests (60% of the final mark) and in-class exercises (40% of the final mark); 1 written test (70% of the final mark) and 1 written group assignment (30% of the final mark); or an overall written test (100% of the mark).
Subject matter
1. Dimensions and axes of contemporary approaches to religious phenomena 1.1. The autonomy of the anthropological perspective 1.2. Commensurability and incommensurability 1.3. Religious pluralism and the variation of actors 2. Themes, concepts and typologies in the anthropology of religion 2.1. The sacred and the supernatural in the definition of religion debate 2.2. Function and meaning: the "sociocentric" approaches 3. From the disenchantment to the re-enchantment of Anthropology. 3.1. From the threshold of religious experience to the reality of spirits 3.2. Indigenous ontologies and environmental activism in the new millennium 3.3. Neo-paganisms and ecology 4. The classics of the prophetic-messianic movements dossier 5. Contemporary case studies 5.1. European spiritualisms 5.2. The ethnographic diversity of Christianity