This course is an introduction to the study of religion in the social sciences. It examines what people do with religion and what religion does to people. The guiding thread of this course is to investigate how “religion” itself as a category is debated and contested. A question we will regularly return to is: what counts as religion and who gets to decide? The course is divided into three parts. Part 1 explores the definitions of religion that have been provided by classical authors. Part 2 analyzes the intersections of religion with other social categories such as class, gender and race. Part 3 interrogates the politics of religion and how States, international organizations, political actors and citizens grapple with religion, seek to regulate it or use it to further political ends. The course is interdisciplinary and exposes students to various approaches of religion rooted in political science, sociology, history and anthropology. By the end of this course, students will be equipped with theoretical and methodological tools to best appraise the place of religion in contemporary societies and discuss such complex and debated issues as secularism, fundamentalism, religious freedom, religious discrimination.
Juliette GALONNIER,Elisabeth MILJKOVIC
Cours magistral seul
English
There is no prerequisite for this course. Students should have some general knowledge in the social and human sciences and should be ready to engage in collective discussions on topics related to religion, secularism, inequality.
Autumn 2023-2024
Participation (10%)
Book review (40%): Students will have to write a 4-page book review on a book chosen from a selection established by the professor.
Collective case study (50%): Students will gather in groups of 6 to 9 students to work on a case study of their choice. They will have to identify a controversy involving different actors over the category of religion and find relevant first-hand sources (archives, media articles, policy documents, courts rulings, social media posts, possibly interviews with key actors, etc.) to study the arguments made about religion by each side of the controversy. Mentorship sessions with the TA will be organized during the semester to help towards the completion of the project. Students will be evaluated on three outputs for this collective project:
- 1/ A 10-minute poster presentation on the last day of class (10%);
- 2/ A 12-page final report mapping the controversy (30%);
- 3/ A visual webpage that will be publicly available on the website of the course (10%).
Véronique Altglas and Matthew Wood (ed.), 2018, Bringing Back the Social into the Sociology of Religion, Brill.