Teaching
Epic Epics
Course Description: The term "epic," from the Greek epos and the Latin epicus, is often used to describe very long narrative poems about heroic warriors and colossal battles such as the Iliad, the Aeneid, the Ramayana, and Beowulf. But today we also see the term epic being applied to television shows, video games, and feature films. What makes something an epic? Its length? Its content? Its format? In this first year seminar, we will explore ten different epics: Raya and the Last Dragon, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Mahabharata, the Odyssey, the Cilappatikaram, the Sirat al-Amira Dhat al-Himma, the Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, the Odyssey of Star Wars, and Game of Thrones. Throughout this course, we will engage with the following questions: How have epics changed over time? How have epics traveled across regions? What role does religion play in epics? What can epics tell us about gender, ethnicity, and power now and in the past?
Religion in South Asia
Course Description: The Indian subcontinent–– which is made up of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka–– is one of the most religiously diverse regions in the entire world. Not only is South Asia the birthplace of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, anti-caste, and Dalit traditions, the region is also home to followers of Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian traditions. This course will introduce you to the remarkably varied religious worlds of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.
Hindu Traditions
Course Description: This course is a basic introduction to the myriad of rituals, texts, practices, values and beliefs that make up Hindu Traditions in South Asia and beyond. This class covers early Hindu history and the various textual traditions, focuses on practices and divine interactions in the everyday lives of Hindus, and examines some of the historical and contemporary issues of conquest, integration, caste, migration, and globalization.
Islam in South Asia
Course Description: While many Americans tend to think that most Muslims live in the Middle East (the birthplace of Islam), it is South Asia that has the largest population of Muslims in the world. In fact, one third of all Muslims live in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. This course offers a broad historical survey of the Islamic cultures of the Indian subcontinent from the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate up until the present day. After a detailed introduction to the core beliefs and practices of Islam, we will jump into an exploration of the history of Islam in South Asia, interactions between Muslim and non-Muslim religious communities in South Asia, and the contemporary concerns of South Asian Muslims. We will especially focus on Islamic culture in South Asia in the realms of literature, the visual arts, architecture, music, and material culture.
Dance, Drama, and Devotion in South Asia
Course Description: A wide range of different vibrant and colorful dance, drama, and music performance traditions are found in South Asia (the region comprised of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). South Asia is also one of the most religiously diverse regions of the world. Along with being the birthplace of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh religions, South Asia is also home to followers of Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian traditions. This course explores how different performance traditions are used to express religious devotion in South Asia as well as in the South Asian diaspora. Along with reading journal articles, book chapters, and forms of multimedia journalism, we will also watch several videos of different performances from the realms of dance, theater, and music with English subtitles.
Princesses, Demonesses, and Warriors:
The Women of the South Asian Epics
Course Description: The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are two ancient Sanskrit epic poems. For the past two thousand years, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been retold countless times by different poets, artists, playwrights, novelists, television producers, and filmmakers throughout South and Southeast Asia and the Diaspora. The creators of these Ramayanas and Mahabharatas include women, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and members of caste-oppressed and indigenous groups. In this course, you will be introduced to the diverse and complex worlds of the Ramayana and Mahabharata narrative traditions through the close examination of eight different female characters in several retellings of these two epics. We will read excerpts from the Sanskrit Ramayana and the Sanskrit Mahabharata as well as plays, poems, short stories, and folk songs. We will also watch films and episodes from television shows. The Ramayanas and Mahabharatas that we will encounter in this class were created in eight different languages
Religion, Bollywood, and Beyond
Course Description: South Asia is one of the most religiously diverse regions of the world where Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian traditions have co-existed for centuries. In the past one hundred years, however, the region has also become known for its history of religious conflict or communalism. This course examines the depictions of religious harmony and religious conflict in Hindi-Urdu films from India. We will pay particular attention to movies from “Bollywood,” one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world. We will begin with historical fiction films that depict real figures from South Asian history such as Alauddin Khalji, Akbar, and Bhagat Singh. We will then turn to cinematic depictions of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 during which countless Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were displaced and killed. We will also examine critical issues such as caste discrimination and Islamophobia.
Jedi, Sith, and Mandalorians:
Religion and Star Wars
Course Description: This course examines the role religion plays in the immensely popular epic space opera multimedia franchise known as Star Wars. But what does the Force and communities such as the Jedi, the Sith, and Mandalorians have to do with religion? In this course, we will investigate several important concepts in the study of religion that also play a huge part in the Star Wars universe including canonization, myth, invented vs. traditional religions, cultural appropriation, colonization, indigeneity, and racism. Films and television shows that we will explore include A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Revenge of the Sith, The Mandalorian, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi. We will also read scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and blog posts, and engage with other forms of multimedia journalism.
Junior Seminar in Religion
Course Description: The study of religion is comprised of a set of intersecting questions and issues with its roots in the nineteenth century. This course is designed to introduce students to those questions, to wrestle with those questions again. There is no single definition of religion, but there are conversations and questions that rest at the heart of the academic study of religion. The goal of this course is to learn how to consider religious experiences as aspects of dynamic and evolving interactions between thought and action, the immediate world and that which lies beyond, and individuals and communities. A significant part of the course involves writing a research prospectus to best prepare the student to write a SIP in the Religion Department. This course is required for religion majors in their junior year and for students who want to write their SIP in the Religion Department. Minors are required to take either this course in their junior year or the Senior Seminar in Religion in their senior year.