REL 3022 - Ritual in Religion & Culture

Ritual in Religion & Culture
Rel 3022

Course Calendar
Texts
Assignments
Policies
Grading
Grades
Ritual websites--2004
Ritual websites--2002
Ritual websites--2001
Spontaneous Ritual--9/11
Body Ritual
Additional Bibliography

COURSE CALENDAR

JAN 5 Introduction to course; syllabus, course policies

7 What is ritual?
READ: Grimes, Introduction

12 Modes of ritual sensibility

14 Symbol and ritual
READ: Firth, 64; Hand, 197

19 MARTIN LUTHER KING--No School

21 Myth and ritual
READ: Leach, 39; Douglas, 68

26 Classifications of ritual

         28                 Ritual Characteristics
                                      READ: Some'
                                DUE: Assignment 1

FEB 2 Functions of religious ritual
READ: Harris, 16; Lee, 20

4 Shamanistic ritual: spirit and vision
READ: Howells, 102; Brown, 110

          9                   Priestly ritual: liturgy and sacrament
                          READ: Turner, 89; Furer-Haimendorf, 97
                                DUE: Assignment 3, Part 1

11 Rites of passage
READ: Grimes, Chapter 1

         16                  Ritual and psychology
                          READ: deRopp, 144; Bass, 181; Pattison, 259;
                                                Sagan, 384

         18                 Magic and Ritual
                          READ: Levi-Strauss, 187; Brown, 324; del Guercio,
                                                330; Singer, 390

23 Witchcraft and Wicca
READ: Brain, 208; Orion, 243

         25                  Ancestors and Ritual
                                READ: Grimes, Chapter 2
                          DUE: Assignment 3, Part 2

MAR 1 Ritual and culture
READ: Puttick, 375; Lewis, 364

3 Rites of Passage: A Case
READ: Grimes, Chapter 5; Gordon, 56

8 Ritual, politics, and power
READ: Grimes, Chapter 3

10 American civil religion
READ: Grimes, Chapter 4

15 Ritual and the Third Reich

17 The body: beauty and perfection
READ: Dubitsch, 73

SPRING BREAK

          29                A Case: Native American ritual
                                READ: Slotkin, 130; Bergman, 168; Kehoe, 354
                                 DUE: Assignment 4                                                      Article for Assn. 4

31 A Case: Christian ritual

APR 5 Ritual healing
READ: Kiev, 163; Wedenoja, 173

            7                Ritualizing death
                           READ: Grimes, Chapter 4;Barber, 318;
                                               Metcalf, 340

          12                Sports as ritual: Super Bowl reports
                          READ: Gmelch, 293
                                DUE: Assignment 2

          14                Ritual salvation: cults, sects, and revitalization;
                                    ritual as cultural criticism
                          READ: Wallace, 348; Daugherty, 369;
                                              Newsweek, 406

Notes:

"READ" = to be read by date shown on syllabus
"DUE" = to be handed in on the day shown on syllabus

TEXTS

Lehmann & Myers Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion
Grimes, Ron Deeply into the Bone
Some, M. P. Ritual: Power, Healing and Community

The main text, Lehmann and Myers, is a collection of articles by
different authors. These are not generalized pieces that provide
an overview of the material being covered in the topic for the
day's class. Rather, they provide examples in practice of what is
being discussed or viewed in class.

GRADES Final grades will be determined as follows:

50%                written work
                                            Paper 1                  10%
                                            Assignment 1:1      15%
                                            Assignment 1:2      15%
                                            Short essay           10%

25%                quizzes
25%                class participation
                                         (discussion, attendance, preparation, attitude, etc.)

No incompletes! Failure to turn in any assignment will result in a
grade of "F" for the course.

POLICIES    Continued enrollment of a student in this course
                                implies a contractual agreement by the student
                                to abide by all course policies.
                                         Click here for policies.