Week I: The narrative of the course begins
with the idea of maps as representations, allowing us from the
very first day to examine a variety of critical issues and perspectives.
Among the materials that will be used to illustrate our orientation
will be some short imaginative and analytical readings; a variety
of historical, topographic, and imaginative maps; and a sampling
of liturgical calendars and ordinances to forecast the more focused
and detailed and unusual kind of maps we will be dealing with
later in the course.
Week II will serve to bring the general
principles of mapping (introduced in Week I) to bear on a series
of brief but concrete historical examples that both illustrate
the physical, relational dimensions of religious ideas and practices,
and alert us to the social and geopolitical dimensions of critical
studies in religion.
Weeks III-IV are focused on the idea of
"mandala" as an indigenous category and theory of practice
analogous to the English term "mapping," and are designed
to provide a sustained example of the various ways in which cosmic,
social, and personal interests can be subsumed under a single
rubric ("mandala"), and of how that notion has been
deployed in the service of various interests both within South
Asian culture historically and by others in the modern world who
have studied/theorized about it. The idea of cultural stereotypes
will be directly addressed.
Weeks V-VI extend the idea of religious
mapping by applying it to the case of Teresa, a medieval Christian
woman whose "Interior Castle" complicates our understanding
of the particularities (as well as the generalities) of categories
such as mapping and mysticism. While the text itself purports
to provide a very personal kind of religious map, we will investigate
whether it also provides a map of a more general sort both in
its own historical context and within the field of religious studies.
Weeks VII-VIII are designed to bring our
attention back out from the specific to the general, highlighting
Jerusalem as both a city and an idea. As opposed to the particularity
of Teresa’s historical situation, we will extend the temporal
range of our reflections to include ancient, medieval, and modern
views of Jerusalem as a site of contestation and religious practice
from several points of view. The literary and historical legacy
of this "site" is inexhaustible, but we will highlight
"classical" Jerusalem in the first week and "modern"
Jerusalem in the second. To demonstrate some elements of principled
comparison, we will briefly consider the case of Ayodhya (India)
in terms of the power (and terror) of "place" in the
history of religions.
Over the Spring break, you will be asked to read
Black Elk Speaks. In our discussions during
Weeks IX-X, we will attempt to sort out
various contexts of the text, and reflect on some of the historical
and cultural issues that the book has engendered.
In Weeks XI-XII, we will draw out some of
the implications of the Black Elk case through an examination
of the modern Santa Fe Fiesta. We will use as evidence both R.
Grimes’ classic study Synmbol and Conquest and the
documentary film "Gathering Up Again," both of which
illustrate the conjunction of personal, social, and political
interests embedded in a presumably "civic" religious
celebration. To provide a contrastive map of "America"
at the end of the millennium, we will also consider briefly the
case of Waco and the Branch Davidians, whose reading of the Christian
Bible has raised many issues concerning the "intersection
of politics and religion" in America today.
Weeks XIII-XIV are designed to alert us
to the kinds of moral and ethical issues raised by contemporary
talk of "globalization," and the ways in which this
language is being used by various constituencies both here and
abroad. Particular attention will be paid to the events of September
11, 2001, and their consequences.