Module ANTH2357: Ritual, Religion and Belief

Department: Anthropology

ANTH2357: Ritual, Religion and Belief

Prerequisites

• People and Cultures (ANTH1061) OR Being Human (ANTH1111)

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• Provide a cross-cultural overview of the theoretical and ethnographic importance of the anthropological studies of religion 
• Cover key theories of religion in social anthropology, supported by ethnographic case studies
• Consider the form that religious practices take in a variety of different societies and communities and their relationship with political, economic and cultural life 
• Provide an in-depth and broad knowledge of religion and its importance to human sociality 
• Examine critically the relationship between the practice of different religions and forms of religiosity for social organisation, identities, and culture
• Provide an awareness of how a theoretical and ethnographic awareness of these topics might help understand critical events and controversies in the contemporary world. 

Content

• Overview of key issues in the anthropology of religion followed by coverage of the following major themes: ritual and belief, shamanism and cosmology, religion and race; secularism; ethnographies of world religions.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the place religion in human societies, and the various ways it has been theorised by anthropologists 
• Be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of representative ethnographic cases (present and past, Western and non-Western). 

• Have an understanding of the basic conceptual vocabularies of religion.
• Be able to analyse the symbolic foundations of religious practices. 

• Library research
• Debating skills
• Note taking
• Essay writing
• Critical reading and analysis. 

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

• Lectures and seminars introduce students to the material and enable discussion of it, informed by wider reading.
• Lectures may include pre-recorded videos, live presentations, and/or interactive components as appropriate to the material covered from week to week 
• Seminars allow students to explore and discuss material from the lectures and readings in depth with their tutors and peers 
• Formative assessment is by one 500 word written assignment
• Summative assessment is by a 2000 word written assignment

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

500-word written assignment

■ 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