Department of History Spring 2000
HISTORY 499: RELIGION, POLITICS, AND POWER IN THE MODERN WORLD
Instructor: SANJAY JOSHI Meeting time: T-Th. 4:00-5:15
Office: LA 206 Phone:
523-6216 or 523-4378
Web page: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6E-mail:
Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu
Office Hours:T-Th.
11:00-12:00,
COURSE DESCRIPTION
According to the common sense of our modern world, religion ought to be confined to the realms of private worship. Yet even a cursory look at the world around us tells us that such is not the case. Across the world today, there are movements claiming to mobilize people on the basis of religious affiliations. Clearly our modern common sense needs some serious reconsideration. This course aims to do just that. Rather than accepting that "religion" and "politics" necessarily belong to two separate spheres, we start by looking at the category of "religion" historically, to see how its meanings change over time. The rest of the course examines the some of the many relations between religion, politics, and power that emerge in different historical contexts in different parts of the world in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Our objective is to understand the many ways in which religion is shaped by and in turn shapes how politics and power are configured in the world today.
This is a co-convened course open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The class will be run as a seminar. All participants in the seminar, undergraduate as well as graduate students will be expected to come to class having done the required readings for the week, and to participate actively in class discussions. Any student may, with or without previous intimation, be called upon to make brief presentations in the class. The entire class will meet twice a week, and graduate students in the class will meet with the instructor for an extra hour during the week to discuss the readings that have been assigned to them. Graduate students are also expected to play an important part in leading and guiding class discussions.
REQUIRED READINGS
All Students
1. Talal Asad. Genealogies
of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
2. Richard Eaton. Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
! FLASH ! The complete text of this book is now available ON-LINE, free.
URL http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/6108.html
However, computer screens seldom allow for the careful perusal that this course will demand. Moreover, I may ask you to refer to specific page numbers of a book in class. If you do decide to use the internet version, I would advise you to PRINT the chapters relevant for each class.
3.
Leila Ahmed. A Border Passage:
From Cairo to America - A Woman's Journey. Farrar Straus & Giroux,
1999.
4. Selected Articles on Reserve at the
library, circulated in class, or available in full-text format through
the Internet.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
2. Formal reviews of TWO OF the
three major texts used for the class, between three and five pages each.
Look at book reviews in historical or other academic journals for acceptable
reviewing styles and strategies.
3. A one to two page typed informal report
on EACH of the four sections of the course. These reflections should
comment on the readings assigned for that section, and raise a substantial
QUESTION about those readings. If appropriate, the questions may be taken
up for discussion in the next class. The reports are due the class before
the scheduled discussion for that section. See course schedule for exact
dates.
4. Regular attendance and participation
in class discussions.
5. NO EXAMS.
GRADING AND ASSESSMENT
The grades for the course will be determined
according to the following criteria:
Paper 80 points
2 Formal Reviews 40 points (20 points each)
4 Informal Reports 60 points (15 points
each) Class & Discussion Participation 20 points
TOTAL FOR COURSE 200 POINTS
The grading scale for the course will be
as follows:
180-200 = A; 160-179= B;
140-159= C; 120-139= D; below 120= F.
UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, ALL ASSIGNMENTS
ARE DUE IN CLASS.
PLEASE NOTE: I do not give extensions
or incompletes except in the most extreme cases. Usually I will require
a doctor's certificate or its equivalent to allow for an extension. Plagiarism
will not be tolerated and will result in failing the course. Please consult
the NAU Student Handbook's sections on academic dishonesty if you
are not certain of the meaning of this term. IT IS THE STUDENTS' RESPONSIBILITY
TO FAMILIARIZE HERSELF/HIMSELF WITH THESE MATTERS AS DEFINED BY THE UNIVERSITY.
PROVISIONAL COURSE SCHEDULE (SUBJECT
TO MODIFICATION)
Tue. January 18: Course Introduction
Section
One: Re-Thinking Religion, Politics, and Power
Thu.
January 20: Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion. Introduction.
Tue.
January 25: Asad Chapter One.
Thu.
January 27: Asad, Chapter Two.
Tue.
February. 1 Asad, Chapter Three.
Thu.
February 3 Asad, Chapter Six.
Tue.
February 8 Asad, Chapter Seven.
Thu.
February 10 Asad, Chapter Eight.
Informal
Report on Section One due.
Tue.
February 15 Discussion #1: Religion as Historically Determined Category.
Section
Two: The Creation of Religious Identities: A Case Study
Thu.
February 17 Richard Eaton, Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier.
Introduction and Chapter One.
Tue.
February 22 Eaton, Chapters Two and Three.
Formal
Review of Talal Asad's book due.
Thu.
February 24 Eaton, Chapters Four and Five.
Tue.
February 29 Eaton Chapters Six and Seven.
Thu.
March 2 Eaton, Chapters Eight and Nine.
Tue.
March 7 - Thu. March 9 SPRING BREAK
Tue.
March 14 Eaton, Chapters Ten and Eleven (Conclusion).
Informal
Report of Section Two due.
Thu.
March 16 Discussion #2: What is Religious Identity? How and When did people
become Muslim in Bengal?
Section
Three: The Modernization of Religion and "Communalism"
Tue.
March 21 David Ludden, "Introduction" from his book, Contesting the
Nation.
Thu.
March 23 Nandy, "Hinduism Versus Hindutva." (WEB ARTICLE)
URL
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Socissues/hindutva.html
Formal
Review of Eaton due.
Tue.
March 28 Achin Vanaik "Situating the Threat of Hindu Nationalism" Economic
and Political Weekly of India July 9, 1994, 1729-1748.
Sumit
Sarkar, "Fascism of the Sangh Parivar." (WEB ARTICLE)
URL
http://members.xoom.com/indowindow/godown/secular/FOTSP.htm
Thu.
March 30 Film: Anand Patwardhan's Father Son Holy War: Trial By Fire.
Tue.
April 4 Film: Father Son Holy War: Hero Pharmacy.
Informal
Report on Section Three due.
Thu.
April 6 Discussion # 3: Furies of Modernized Religion.
Section
Four: Religion, Gender, and (Trans)National Movements
Tue.
April 11 Leila Ahmed, A Border Passage, Chapter One (1-31)
Screening
of film Women and Islam followed by discussion.
Thu.
April 13 Ahmed, Chapters Two-Three. (32-67)
Tue.
April 18 Ahmed, Chapters Four-Five. (68-134)
Thu.
April 20 Ahmed, Chapters Six-Seven, (135-178)
Tue.
April 25 Ahmed, Chapters Eight-Nine. (179-205)
Thu.
April 27 Ahmed, Chapter Ten. (206-242)
Tue.
May 2 Ahmed, Chapter Eleven and Epilogue. (243-307)
Informal
report on Section Four due.*
Thu.
May 4 Discussion: Religion and Women: Oppression or Empowerment?
Formal
Review of Ahmed's book due.*
*To
keep reading week free of assignments, BOTH the above assignments can be
turned in on April 27.
MON.,
May 8 FINAL PAPERS DUE. Please Deliver to the History Office before
2 p.m.
1. One ten page paper relating religion,
power, and politics in any region of the world. You may write a research
paper on a specific religio-political movement, OR a historiographical
essay relating some of the ideas from this course to the literature about
the place of religion in the history of a region of your choice. The paper
will be due on Monday, May 8, in my box at the history office. A WRITTEN
proposal, of one to two pages, and including a bibliography is due on APRIL
4th, in class. Please meet with me individually at least TWICE
before that time to discuss your proposal.