- Course code: RL5120
- Credits: 10
- Language: English
Study program affiliation:
Religion and Empire RL5120
How have empires formed - and still continue to form - religion? In RL5120 the students will learn about how religion was managed in empires like the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire and East Asian empires such as China and Japan. Following a comprehensive theoretical survey of the concepts of "empire", "colonialism", "imperialism", and "religion", the course will analyse and explore imperial and colonial policies of religion. Students will be introduced to the politics of knowledge production about life of the governed peoples within the colonies, and they will learn about the politics of religious, ethnic and cultural differences. Attention will also be paid to various aspects of lived religious lives, co-existence and boundary transgression within empires. Finally, the course will introduce students to anti-colonial ideologies and resistance to empire.
Organization
The course consists of lectures and seminars.
Study requirements
In order to receive a final assessment, the student must:
- actively participate in minimum 75% of the teaching
- write an essay (1200-1500 words) discussing one particular empire and its policies on religion
- participate in the in-depth evaluation of the course if such evaluation is stipulated in the relevant term
When course requirements are not fulfilled, this will count as one examination attempt, unless the student withdraws before the set deadline (1 May/November).
Final assessment/Exam
The final assessment of RL5120 Religion and Empire is a written school exam (4 hours). The course and final exam will be assessed by grades A - F.
To gain credits for the course the student must fulfill the course requirements.
Exam dates
- Exam date:
- 4. December 2024
- Start time:
- 09:00
- Duration:
- 4 hours
- Final deadline to withdraw from examination:
- 1. November 2024
- Release date for results:
- 20. December 2024
Written school exam - Ordinary exam
- Exam date:
- 15. January 2025
- Start time:
- 09:00
- Duration:
- 4 hours
- Final deadline to withdraw from examination:
- 5. January 2025
- Release date for results:
- 3. February 2025
Written school exam - New/deferred exam N.B. Own rules for access
Learning outcome
Knowledge
The student has
- advanced knowledge of one particular empire and its policies of religion
- good knowledge of relevant theoretical approaches to empires and colonialism
- good knowledge of religious boundary transgression and resistance to empire and colonialism.
Skills:
The student can:
- discuss relevant theories of empire, colonialism and imperialism
- compare religion and empire across time and space
- discuss in detail one particular case study of empire and religion
Overlapping courses
The course has no credit reduction to other courses.
Reading list
Here you can find the reading list for this course.
Part of the literature will be available digitally, while other parts might only be available in paper format. Some of the literature will be available as compendiums, which you can find via the course room in Canvas.
You will automatically get access to literature that is available digitally when you are sitting at MF, otherwise you can get access by using Oria or by using "External access" in the library's list of databases.
Note that it will take some time before link to the reading list is updated. Please make sure that you are looking at the correct semester's reading list.
Course responsible
