Module ANTH4118: Art and Religion

Department: Anthropology

ANTH4118: Art and Religion

Prerequisites

• ANTH2091 Culture & Classifications or ANTH2041 Families, Kinship and the Social Order or ANTH2051 Political & Economic Organisation

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• Cannot be taken if ANTH3381 Anthropology of Religious Controversy has previously been taken.

Aims

• To familiarize students with a range of theoretical perspectives and ethnographic case studies on the relation between art/material culture and ecology, thereby achieving two main goals: 1) Exploring human knowledge and perception of the environment through the lens of art and material culture. 2) Questioning the trend in Western modernity to place art, aesthetics and other abstract areas of interest outside the realm of the every day, thus placing art back into the realm of everyday life.
• To improve students’ understanding of methodology in social anthropology.
• To deepen students’ appreciation of the value of an anthropological approach in understanding public controversies through case studies.
• To provide students with a challenging opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the anthropology of religion.

Content

• A novel approach to the study of the relationship between human societies and their environment. It explores dialogues between human beings and nature through the perspective of art and material culture. Building on current debates both in Anthropology and in other disciplines, the course provides analytical tools to study art objects as mediating the relationship between human beings, animals, plants and the landscape. In so doing, during the course we discuss notions of ecology, vision, skills, materiality, personhood and sociality. Although exact topics may vary from year to year, because of the growing number of studies in the field, the course might cover such areas as: Pre-historical perspectives on the development of human art, communication, vision and ecology, the link between dreams, ancestors and landscape, hunting and mimesis, the materiality of sailing, the relation between objects and organisms, weaving, the materiality of death and memory, commoditization, environmental art.
• ‘Live issues’, that is, controversies that are being publicly aired during academic year. Subjects discussed will include some of the following: Definitions and their consequences; Theoretical perspectives in the anthropology of religion; Mormons & Marriage; Priests & Paedophilia; Judaising Movements; Israel and the law of return; Islamic dress; The Amish and the State; Ideologies and the religious right; Sects & cults; The war against terror; The secularization debate; Religion & ethnicity; The USSR and the erasure of Shamanism; Evolution and creationism; Satanic abuse; Catholicism, contraception & abortion; Local conflicts (Northern Ireland; Sri Lanka; the Middle East; Nigeria; Sudan, Iraq, Kashmir).

Learning Outcomes

• Gain an understanding of classic and recent debates in the anthropology of art and material culture and human-environment relations.
• Appreciate a wide body of the ethnographic studies of art and material culture both in western and non-Western societies.
• Understanding of some of the key debates in the anthropology of religion.
• An appreciation of the importance anthropology in understanding public controversy
• Knowledge of key concepts in social anthropology such as power and authority, public culture, gender, ethnicity, identity.

• Develop intellectual and methodical skills to plan and carry out an individual research on an art topic from an ecological perspective.
• Ability to critically evaluate and apply anthropology of art and material culture theory to a range of environmental issues.
• Ability to retrieve information both on historical and contemporary religious controversies.
• Ability to recognise and apply theoretical approaches in the anthropology of religion.
• Capacity for independent learning within the field of the anthropology of religion.

• Ability to engage critically with both theory and ethnography.
• Ability to communicate clearly in both oral and written forma, confidence in presenting their own ideas in writing and to write concisely under time pressure.
• Ability to argue critically, creatively and coherently.
• Ability to search for, organise and synthesize contemporary and historical and data.
• Skills in effective and efficient time management.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures: teaching staff will introduce key issues, provide theoretical perspectives and draw on ethnographic case studies.
• Intensive seminars: teaching staff will introduce key issues, provide theoretical perspectives and draw on ethnographic case studies. Students will prepare by reading the material suggested on the course outline, which they will discuss during seminars. Seminar discussions will provide an opportunity to evaluate critically and assess a range of approaches on the anthropological study of art and material culture. Students will prepare individual and group presentations engaging with current debates and research and will gain practice in presenting relevant materials to others and in learning collaboratively. Furthermore they will engage in preliminary research on an art topic of their choice that will form the basis of their formative assessment.
• Students will also be taught and learn through self-guided learning and classes. The introductory classes will be tailored to accommodate the differential knowledge and disciplinary skills of different cohorts and to make sure that students approach subsequent seminars with an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding. The primary subject of each seminar will be introduced by the tutor in order to introduce the students to the key theoretical approaches or data relevant to the theme of the seminar. The tutor’s introductory remarks are followed by a class during which students are encouraged to explore the lecture content in greater detail and to identify areas in which they require particular guidance, for example on further reading. The classes enable students to develop their abilities to conduct research, to communicate, to present theoretical alternatives and data, and to develop their own argumentation skills. Class discussion encourages background reading, contributing to the students’ independent learning. It further allows students the opportunity to exchange ideas, to explore issues and arguments that interest or concern them in greater depth, and to receive feedback from both the group and the tutor on their own arguments and understanding.
• Summative assessment consists of: 1. an art essay of 3,000 words. The essay topic will be chosen specifically to encourage students to engage with both the theoretical approaches discussed throughout the course and a wide range of ethnographic case studies. 2. a 3,000 word religion essay. Summative assessment by essay formally tests the skills developed throughout the course. The essay will test the ability to plan a substantial piece of work, identifying and retrieving sources and selecting and displaying appropriate subject specific knowledge and understanding. It further tests the ability to develop an extended discussion which utilises concepts and examines competing interpretation and analysis. It also develops key skills in sustaining effective written communication and information presentation to high scholarly standards. It enables students to demonstrate that they have sufficient subject knowledge to meet the assessment criteria, that they have achieved the subject skills and that they have acquired the module’s key skills. In particular, summative essays test the acquisition of knowledge through independent learning and the ability to apply it in critical argument in relation to a specific question. They furthermore help students to develop time management skills by working to a deadline, as well as the ability to seek out and critically use relevant data sources.
• Formative assessment consists of: 1. Informal feedback on student presentations / discussions within seminars that will help students to sharpen their communication and critical evaluation skills. 2. A 700 word art essay plan. 3: A 500-word religion essay plan.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

A 700 word art essay plan; a 500 word essay plan for religion. (Students will be expected to attend all seminars)

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University