Course Outline: 2015-16
Religious Studies 2700F: Sociology and Anthropology of Religion
Religion in Society 5123A: Introduction to Religion and Society
Location:
HC W108
Day(s):
Fridays
Time:
9:30am-12:30pm
Instructor(s): Dr. Andrea S. Allen
Contact info: aallen65@uwo.ca
Prerequisites Required for this Course:
Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to
enroll in it, you may be removed from this course, and it will be deleted from your record. This
decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are
dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
Course Syllabus:
This course surveys studies of religion within the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. In the
course of covering methodologies, major figures, concepts and categories, particular attention will be
given to time, space, structure, ritual, the sacred, practice, identity, and meaning as observed in
historical and contemporary religious communities.
Course Objectives:
1)
Recognize and critically engage some of the major social scientific approaches and
debates to the study of religion.
2)
Understand how religion is shaped by culture and power.
3)
Develop nuanced awareness of how socio-political and historical factors influence
perceptions and experiences of religion.
4)
Reflect, both personally and analytically, on the implications of the study of religion in
relation to our material and everyday realities.
5)
Augment proficiency in critical thinking, research, and analytical skills.
6)
Improve oral and written communication.
Course Materials:
Required articles are on the OWL 2700F/5123A course website. https://owl.uwo.ca/portal
Assignments & Method of Evaluation of Assignments*:
Class Participation
15%
Two Short Papers (3-4 pages)
30% (15% each)
2
Midterm Exam
25%
Research Paper (7-8 pages)
30%
*Requirements different for masters students
Class participation (15% of final grade): An excessive number of absences (i.e., more than two) will result
in a deduction from your participation grade. Regular lateness to class may also result in deductions.
Disruptive behavior (described in the Policies section) will result in deductions as well. In addition,
participation in class discussion and an overall engagement in the course are required. The
participation grade will be based upon the following criteria: how regularly one participates in
discussions; whether or not one exhibits that he/she has done the readings; whether or not one is
respectful toward professor and classmates; whether or not one speaks excessively, keeping others
from speaking or interrupting them; whether or not one’s comments demonstrate that she/he have
analyzed the material; and whether or not one asks questions in class.
Midterm (25% of final grade): midterm will involve short answer questions, identifications, and/or essay
questions. The midterm will cover all course material, e.g., required texts, lectures, and films, up
until the midterm. (Further guidelines will be posted on OWL and discussed in class). Midterm
Date: October 16, 2015
Two short essays (30% of your grade): The three-four page essays should cover only the readings that
were assigned on or before the assignment is due. Essay topics will be provided, and the essays
must have a thesis. The essay must be double-spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with no
extraneous spaces between paragraphs. Papers are to be handed in at the beginning of class.
Detailed instructions and guidance will be provided in class and on the course website. Paper due
dates: October 2, 2015; November 20, 2015
Research project: (30% of your grade for seven-eight page paper); Students will write a research paper that
utilizes an ethnography about religion as its focal point. The paper should draw on themes and
topics discussed in the course in their analysis of this ethnography. The essay must have a thesis.
The essay must be between seven-eight pages, double-spaced with no extraneous spaces between
paragraphs. Further guidelines for the research paper will be discussed in class and posted on OWL.
Due date: December 4, 2015.
Additional Statements:
Submitting Assignments: Please hand in hard copies of all written assignments in RS 2700F/RelSoc 5123A;
you are also required to submit electronic copies of all written assignments (excluding tests/exams) to
Turnitin.com through the course Owl links.
Deadlines are registered as the date/time these assignments are due to Turnitin, and late penalties are assessed
based on the submission time to the Turnitin site – so please don’t forget to load your paper to Turnitin on
time! Again, we also need hard copies to mark, so assignments not handed in during class must be deposited
in the Huron essay drop box, located near the Huron College Information Desk.
Essays not submitted to Turnitin will receive grades converted to 0.
Policy on Missed/Late Assignments: students who submit assignments late without making a prior
agreement with the Instructor, or without a valid medical certificate, will be penalized 3% for every 24-hour
period past the assignment deadline (also see Accommodations for Absences for more information).
3
Attendance Policy: an excessive number of absences (i.e., more than two) will result in a deduction from
your participation grade. Regular lateness to class may also result in deductions.
Policy on classroom etiquette: in order to maintain a respectful and productive learning environment, it is
essential that students arrive at class ready to listen and attend to lectures and films. Disrespectful and
disruptive behaviour during class will not be tolerated and will affect one’s participation grade. Disrespectful
and disruptive behaviour includes the following: texting or talking on mobile phones, chatting on or browsing
Facebook or other social media sites, persistent talking during lectures or films, wearing headphones,
emailing, and/or surfing the Internet for non-class purposes. Students observed to be engaging in this
behaviour during class will be asked to stop. If disruptive behaviour persists, the professor will use her
discretion and judgment in deciding how best to deal with the situation.
Email Policy: if you have any questions or concerns related to the course, feel free to contact me through
OWL, the course website. I will try to respond within 48 hours. If there is an emergency, please contact me
at aallen65@uwo.ca. Please use your Western email account in order to reduce the chance that your email
will be labelled as spam. In addition, I will send out emails regularly in this course. I expect that you will
check your email and the course website at least once a day. Failure to check your email regularly will not be
considered an excuse for failing to complete an assignment or for failing to do so according to specified
directions. Finally, if you email me, please follow proper letter-writing etiquette.
Statement on Use of Electronic Devices during Tests and Exams: if the use of electronic devices during
tests and exams is required for either medical or non-medical academic accommodation, then such
documentation must be submitted by the student directly to your Faculty’s Dean’s office (or academic
counselor), and not to the instructor.
Statement on Academic Offences: Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read
the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following
web site: http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2014/pg113.html.
Plagiarism-detecting Software/Computer Marking: A) All required papers may be subject to submission
for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University
for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents
in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the
system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently
between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com ( http://www.turnitin.com ).
Support Services:
 UWO Registrar’s Office: http://www.registrar.uwo.ca

Huron’s Faculty of Theology, Office of the Dean:
http://www.huronuc.on.ca/faculty_of_theology/info_for_current_students

Faculty of Theology office: srice@uwo.ca, 519-438-7224, ext. 289

Huron’s Writing Skills Centre: http://www.huronuc.on.ca/student_life/writing_services

UWO’s Mental Health website: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ Students who are in
emotional/mental distress should refer to this website for a complete list of options about how to
obtain help.
4

UWO Student Support and Development Services:
http://communications.uwo.ca/current_students/student_services.htm

Services provided by Western University Student Council: http://westernusc.ca/services/
Accommodation for absences: If documentation is required for either medical or non-medical academic accommodation,
then such documentation must be submitted by the student directly to your Faculty’s Dean’s office (or academic counselor), and
not to the instructor. For the Faculty of Theology, all such documentation must be submitted to room A227. It will be the
Dean`s office that will determine if accommodation is warranted.
a) Non-medical absences:
Non-medical absences for assignments: students who submit assignments late without making a
prior agreement with the Instructor, or without a valid medical certificate, will be penalized 3% every
twenty-four hours past the assignment deadline
Non-medical absences from mid-terms: documentation and a request for relief should be submitted
to the Dean’s Office in order for accommodation to be considered
b) Medical absences: See also the Policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness
—Undergraduate Students, at http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/medical.pdf)
For work representing 10% or more of the overall grade for the course, a student must present
documentation indicating that the student was seriously affected by illness and could not reasonably
be expected to meet his/her academic responsibilities. Documentation must be submitted as soon
as possible to your Faculty Dean’s office (Huron Arts & Social Science students should take their
documentation to the Academic Counsellor, through the Academic Services Centre at Huron),
together with a Request for Relief specifying the nature of the accommodation requested. The
request and documentation will be assessed and appropriate accommodation will be determined by
the Dean’s office in consultation with the instructor(s.) Academic accommodation will be granted
ONLY where the documentation indicates that the onset, duration and severity of the illness are
such that the student could not reasonably be expected to complete his/her academic
responsibilities.
The UWO Student Medical Certificate (SMC) and Request for Relief are available at the Student
Centre website (https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/index.cfm), Huron University College
Academic Counselling website (www.huronuc.on.ca) or from the Dean’s Office or Academic
Services Centre at Huron.
Required Articles:
Talal Asad, “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category.”
A reader in the anthropology of religion. Michael Lambek, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing,
2008. 110-126.
Steven Bruce (2002) “The Secularization Paradigm.” God is Dead: Secularization in the West.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. 1-44.
Mary Douglas (2002 [1966]). Excerpts, Purity and Danger. London; New York: Routledge.
5
Carol B. Duncan, “Aunt(y) Jemima in Toronto Spiritual Baptist Experience: Spiritual Mother or
Servile Woman?” This spot of ground: Spiritual Baptists in Toronto. Waterloo, ON. Wilfrid Laurier
University Press, 2008. 215-246.
Emile Durkheim, “Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.” A reader in the anthropology of
religion. Michael Lambek, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 34-49.
E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Excerpt from Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande, New
York: Oxford University Press, 1976. 127-145.
Inger Furseth (2006). “Religion in contemporary sociology and cultural analysis.”
Introduction to the Sociology and Anthropology of Religion. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT:
Ashgate. 49-74.
Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System.” A reader in the anthropology of religion. Michael
Lambek, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2002, 57-78.
Ronald L. Grimes, “Fieldworking Ritual.” The craft of ritual studies. New York: Oxford
University Press. 37-75.
Sarah Lamb (2005). Excerpts from “The Politics of Dirt and Gender: Body Techniques in
Bengali India." Dirt, Unrest and Difference: critical perspectives on the body's surface.
Adeline Masquelier (ed.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Karl Marx, “Alienation in Work.” Sociology: windows on society: an anthology. Los Angeles:
Roxbury Publishing Co., 2002. 241-244.
Karl Marx, “Introduction.” Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Annette Jolin and Joseph
O'Malley, trans. Edited with an introduction. and notes by Joseph O'Malley. Cambridge
[Cambridgeshire]; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1970. 131-132.
Meredith B. McGuire, “New-Old Directions in the Social Scientific Study of Religion:
Ethnography, Phenomenology, and the Human Body.” Personal knowledge and beyond:
reshaping the ethnography of religion. James V. Spickard, J. Shawn Landres, and Meredith B.
McGuire, eds. New York: New York University Press, 2002. 195-211.
Keith Roberts, “The Cultural Construction of Religion: Experience, Myth, Ritual.”
Religion in Sociological Perspective. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 2012. 66-89.
Keith Roberts, “Secularization: Religion in Decline and in Transformation?” Religion in
Sociological Perspective. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 2012. 325-347.
Rodney Stark, “Religion, Magic & Science.” Exploring the Religious Life. Baltimore: John
Hopkins Press, 2004. 1-20.
Victor Turner, “Liminality and Communitas.” The performance studies reader. 2nd edition.
London; New York: Routledge, 2007. 89-97.
6
Thomas A. Tweed, “Between the Living and the Dead: Fieldwork, History, and the
Interpreter's Position.” Personal knowledge and beyond : reshaping the ethnography of religion. James
V. Spickard, J. Shawn Landres, and Meredith B. McGuire, eds. New York: New York
University Press, 2002. 63-74.
Max Weber, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.” A reader in the anthropology of
religion. Michael Lambek, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. 2002. 50-60.
Course Schedule
Module 1: Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology of Religion
September 11
Week 1: Introduction
September 18
Week 2 : Religion, Modernity, and Industrialization
Karl Marx, Excerpt from “Introduction,” Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right and “Alienation
in Work.”
Max Weber, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.”
September 25
Week 3: Religion and Society
Emile Durkheim, “Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.”
Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System”
October 2 (FIRST SHORT ESSAY PAPER DUE)
Week 4: Religion, anthropology, and sociology
Talal Asad, “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category.”
Inger Furseth, “Religion in contemporary sociology and cultural analysis”
October 9
Week 5: Ethnography and Religion
Ronald L. Grimes, “Fieldworking Ritual.”
Thomas A. Tweed, “Between the Living and the Dead: Fieldwork, History, and the
Interpreter's Position”
October 16
Week 6: Midterm
Module 2: Issues: Myth, Purity, Magic, and Secularization
October 23
Week 7: Myth and Ritual
Keith Roberts “The Cultural Construction of Religion: Experience, Myth, Ritual”
Victor Turner, “Liminality and Communitas”
7
October 30
Week 8: Fall Study Break
November 6
Week 9: Magic and Rationality
Rodney Stark, “Religion, Magic & Science.”
E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Excerpt from Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande.
November 13
Week 10: Purity
Mary Douglas, Excerpts, Purity and Danger.
Sarah Lamb, “The Politics of Dirt and Gender: Body Techniques in Bengali India."
November 20 (SECOND SHORT ESSAY PAPER DUE)
Week 11: Film
November 27
Week 12: Secularization
Steven Bruce, “The Secularization Paradigm.” God is Dead: Secularization in the West.”
Keith Roberts, “Secularization: Religion in Decline and in Transformation?”
Module 2: Case Study:
December 4 (RESEARCH PAPER DUE)
Week 13: Case Study: Caribbean Women’s Religious Experiences in Canada
Carol B. Duncan, “Aunt(y) Jemima in Toronto Spiritual Baptist Experience: Spiritual Mother or
Servile Woman?”