RELST-UA.646.001 and SCA-UA.812.001
Religion, Sexuality, and American Public Life
Professor Ann Pellegrini
Spring 2012
Office hours: Thursdays, 1-3 PM
To arrange a specific time to meet during my
office hours, email: ap39@nyu.edu
Office location: Center for the Study of Gender
& Sexuality
41-51 East 11th Street, Room 710
Teaching Assistant: Julia DeLeon
Office hours by appointment
Email: jd1666@nyu.edu
Mailbox location: Department of Performance
Studies
721 Broadway, 6th floor
COURSE DESCRIPTION: What are the “proper” role and place of religious beliefs and expressions in
American public life? What are the “proper” role and place of sex in American public life? And how are
these two questions related to each other? Despite the fact that there is no established church in the
United States (indeed, the U.S. is an officially secular nation), U.S. laws and policies regulating sexual
life have historically derived much of their rationale from specifically religious notions of “good” versus
bad “sex,” what bodies are “for,” what kinds of human relationships are valuable. How are we to
understand this apparent contradiction between principles of church-state separation and religious
freedom, on the one hand, and the invocation of religious ideas to justify state regulation of bodily life,
especially sexual life, on the other? Does American national identity have not just a specific sexual
identity, but a particular religious character, too? If so, what room is held open for different ways of
enacting embodiment, religion, and American-ness? As a way into these questions we will consider a
range of case studies, situating each in its deeper historical context. Throughout the semester, critical
pressure will be placed on the course’s keywords: religion, sexuality, public, and American.
WHAT IS A KEYWORD? Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler provide a helpful introduction to this term on
the homepage for their book Keywords for American Cultural Studies:
In Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976/1983), Raymond
Williams described keywords as important elements in a living vocabulary made up
of “binding words in certain activities and their interpretation” and “indicative words in
certain forms of thought.” [We] follow Williams’s lead, while emphasizing that
keywords are also sites of conflict and disagreement. Keywords invite research and
reflection because debates about culture and society can be enhanced -- rather than
resolved or shut down -- by an increased understanding of the multiple genealogies of
their structuring terms and the diverse conflicts and disagreements embedded in
differing and contradictory uses of those terms. (Available at:
http://keywords.fordhamitac.org/index.html. Click on keywords.)
ASSIGNED BOOKS: Available for purchase at Shakespeare and Company (716 Broadway) and on
reserve at Bobst. You are also welcome to seek out used copies of these books, via amazon.com
and other sites.
• Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction (New York: Vintage, 1978).
• Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Jean Fagan Yellin (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 2009).
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• Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini, Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious
Tolerance, 2nd edition (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004).
• Tony Kushner, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Part One: Millennium
Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2003).
E-BOOKS: Access via the research link to Bobst on NYU.home or through Blackboard, under “External
Links” (X)
Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, eds., Keywords for American Cultural Studies (New York: New York
University Press, 2007).
Stephen M. Feldman, ed., Law and Religion: A Critical Anthology (New York: New York University Press,
2000).
FILMS (AFC = available at Avery Fisher Center, Bobst Library):
Hell House, dir. George Ratliff (2001, 85 minutes). (AFC)
Fast Trip, Long Drop, dir. Gregg Bordowitz (1993, 53 minutes). (AFC)
Stop the Church, dir. Robert Hilferty (1991, 24 minutes).
OTHER READINGS: Accessible through Blackboard, under “Course Documents.” (CD)
LINKS TO VIDEOS, MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, SELECT BOOKS, & LEGAL DECISIONS provided to
you via Blackboard, under “External Links.” (X)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) Participation: Attendance at every lecture (beginning in week 2, students will sign in for each class
meeting). Six 2-page double-spaced response papers on assigned questions, to be handed in to
Julia DeLeon at the beginning of class on Tuesdays, as of week two. This means your first
response paper is due on Tuesday, January 31. Make sure to attach the two pages with a staple
or paper clip so that pages do not go missing. Use a readable 12-point font. (One third of final
grade)
** Please pay close attention to the schedule of these response papers; you are responsible for meeting
these due dates. It is your responsibility to bring a hard copy of your paper to class. We will not
accept papers via email attachment.
** I will circulate set questions for these short papers via the Blackboard email function, which goes to
your NYU email address. The directed question(s) for the week will also be posted to the
assignments section of the course’s Blackboard site.
** Although the individual reflection papers are ungraded, each missed reflection paper will result in
the lowering of your final grade for the course by one-half grade (+/-), or 5 points. This is not
negotiable.
** If you hand in every reflection paper on time and attend every class, your participation grade will be
A+, or 100 points. If you miss more than one class, your participation grade will drop one full
grade, or 10 points. (If you are going to miss a class due to religious obligations, please notify me
in advance so you can receive an excused absence for that day.)
2) Midterm paper, 5 pages, due at beginning of class on Tuesday, March 6. (One-third of final grade)
3) Take-home final, on assigned questions, due at my RELIGIOUS STUDIES office no later than 5pm on
Wednesday, May 8. Office address: Program in Religious Studies, 726 Broadway, room 564.
(One-third of final grade)
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4) Extra credit. Throughout the semester, I will circulate, via Blackboard, information about lectures
and other events relevant to topics and themes addressed in this class. You are not obliged to
attend any of them. However, you can receive extra credit of 10 points towards your participation
grade for each lecture/panel discussion/film screening you attend. (In other words, doing an extra
credit assignment makes up for an unexcused absence.) To receive this extra credit, you must
hand in a short reflection paper (1 to 2 pages, double-spaced) to me at the first class meeting
after the event you attended and are writing about. In this brief paper, connect the lecture/panel
discussion/film to some aspect of our course materials and themes.