- Course code: SAM5156
- Credits: 10
- Semester: Spring
- Language: English
Study program affiliation:
Religion Through the Senses SAM5156
How do most people of the world experience religion? What do they see, touch, smell, feel, and taste when they engage in religion? The focus on material religion has been an important intervention in the discipline. Moving away from the clergy or religious heads and scriptures, this approach focusses on ordinary people, everyday religion, and its spaces, sights, sounds, food, smells, and other things we experience through the senses. In addition, it allows us to think about how religious communities claim public spaces through the use of objects, sounds, and symbols. Analysing the role of religious objects and signs helps us understand the way religious populisms and ethnic or religious nationalisms work.
This course will explore the theory, methods, and key concepts of material culture in religion.
The areas explored are:
- Materiality and the material turn in humanities and the social sciences
- Visuality, sound, and embodiment in the study of religion
- Community and identity formation through religious things
- Symbolic politics and public spaces
This course is offered as an elective MA course in the RiCS program. It can be useful for anyone studying theories of religion and religious art at the Masters level.
Organization
This course is a combination of lectures and seminars.
About the study
Study requirements
In order to receive a final assessment, the student must:
- take an active part in at least 75% of class sessions
- submit a qualifying essay of 1200-1500 words one of four topics suggested by the instructor
- take part in peer review of classmates' assignments
- 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).
Final assessment/Exam
The final assessment of SAM5156 Religion Through the Senses is a three-day home exam of 2500-3500 words. The course and final exam will be assessed by graded A - F.
In order to receive a final assessment, the student must fulfil the course requirements within the fixed deadline.
Exam dates
- Hand-out date:
- 19. May 2025
- Time for hand-out:
- 09:00
- Final deadline to withdraw from examination:
- 1. May 2025
- Submission date:
- 22. May 2025
- Submission deadline:
- 12:00
- Duration:
- 3 days
- Release date for results:
- 12. June 2025
Home exam - Ordinary exam
Learning outcome
Knowledge
The student has:
- advanced knowledge in material culture related theories and methods in the study of religion
- a good knowledge and critical awareness of the ways in which conceptions, theories and debates shape academic knowledge about religion
- a good knowledge of debates about media and religion
- knowledge about the history of religious art and architecture
- knowledge about the role of religion in contemporary politics
Skills:
The student can:
- participate in discussions and other classroom activities, develop and demonstrate awareness of one's positionality within the study of religion
- apply academic concepts and theories to analyze, interpret, and discuss religion
- improve writing skills through assignments
General competence:
The student can:
- apply knowledge in contemporary politics
- gain deeper understanding of religious difference and peaceful communal co-existence.
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
