Course Snapshot for ANT225 - Anthropology of Religion

Module 1 Learning Outcomes

1. Plan a routine for successful study and participation after reviewing the course information.
2. Explain the meaning of holism and the importance of the holistic approach.
3. Describe the approach and methodology of the field of anthropology.
4. Explain what a culture area is and explain why this and method of food getting are used as a basic way of describing a culture.
5. Explain the causes of kuru among the Fore, as an example of holism.
6. Explain the difference between and emic and an etic analysis.
7. Describe cultural relativism and its importance for anthropological studies.
8. Explain the concept of culture.
9. Identify the basic approaches to defining religion, including the associated definitions.
10. Identify and explain the basic approaches to the study of religion.
11. Explain the factors that are used to explain the universality of religion.
12. Explain the concept of world view and illustrate the idea by contrasting the world views of the Navajo and Euro-Americans.
13. Explain what makes a story a myth.
14. Describe the nature of oral myths and how such myths change over time.
15. Explain how the Navajo origin story reflects the Navajo world view.
16. Identify and describe the different approaches to the study of myth.
17. Outline the common themes that are found in myths cross-culturally.

Module 2 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Explain what a symbol is.
2. Explain the role played by religious symbols in religious practice.
3. Identify and explain the meaning of the swastika, pentagram, and cross.
4. Identify and explain the importance of the symbolism contained in the sarcophagus of Lord Pakal.
5. Describe the symbolic meaning of color, using the Yoruba as an example.
6. Describe the symbolic nature of time, including examples.
7. Describe the system of totemism and its association with sacred time and space in Australia.
8. Explain how dance and music are used in religious rituals, including examples.
9. Explain the connection between the symbolism of art, music and dance among the As-mat.
10. Explain the connection between symbol, myth, and world view.
11. Contrast prescriptive and situational rituals, and periodic and occasional rituals.
12. Identify the different types of rituals in Wallace's classification.
13. Describe at least one ritual that exemplifies each type of ritual.
14. Describe the structure of a rite of passage.
15. Explain the concept of liminality.
16. Explain why body modification is a common element of a rite of passage.
17. Explain the concept of religious obligations, illustrating the idea with the examples from Polynesia (tabu), the Amish, and Jewish food laws.
18. Explain the importance of rituals in the domain of religion, including how they relate to the previously discussed concepts of world view, myth and symbol.

Module 3 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Define and describe the features of an altered state of consciousness, including how one is entered.
2. Describe how fasting and pain are used in a religious context and explain their significance.
3. Explain the importance of altered states and how they are used in religious contexts, using examples.
4. Explain how altered states are interpreted from an emic perspective, including the concept of a unitary state.
5. Explain how altered states are interpreted from an etic perspective.
6. Describe the use of altered states in the Holiness churches, San healing rituals, and the Sun Dance.
7. Describe the religious use of drugs in South America and other cultures.
8. Compare and contrast religious and secular drug use.
9. Compare and contrast priests and shamans.
10. Describe the role and importance of a religious specialist, using cultural examples.
11. Identify other religious specialists, including healers, diviner, and prophets.

2, 7, 8, 9, 10

Module 4 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Define magic and sorcery.
2. Compare and contrast magic, illusion, and science.
3. Describe the key elements of magic, including how magic is learned and performed.
4. Explain the functions that magic serves.
5. Describe the laws of magic and provide examples for each.
6. Explain why magic always appears to work.
7. Describe the use of magic among the Azande and Fore, as well as magic as used by Wiccans.
8. Define divination and compare and contrast divination with magic.
9. Identify the different forms of divination, as well as examples of each.
10. Describe a variety of divination techniques.
11. Describe the use of divination among the Fore, Azande, and ancient Greece, as well as the practice of astrology.
12. Define the concept of a soul and describe variations in beliefs about the soul that are found cross-culturally, including what happens to a soul after death.
13. Describe the soul beliefs of the Yup'ik, Yanomamö, and Hmong, as well as those of Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
14. Explain why ancestors remain important figures in some cultures.
15. Describe the role of ancestors among the Yoruba, Tana Toraja, and in Japan.
16. Discuss the connection between body and soul and describe creatures that are lacking one or the other, namely ghosts, zombies, and vampires.
17. Explain the functions and importance of funeral rituals.
18. Describe the various means of disposing of the body, and explain any connections this may have with soul beliefs.
19. Describe how death rituals in America have changed over time, including the present time.
20. Describe holidays that frame death as a concept, including the examples of Halloween and the Day of the Dead.

2, 5, 8, 9. 11

Module 5 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Define gods and spirits and describe the characteristics of each.
2. Describe the spirit beings of the Dani, guardian spirits of the Native Americans, jinn of the Islamic religion, and angels and demons of the Christian religion.
3. Identify the different types of gods.
4. Explain the meaning and impact of the anthropomorphic nature of gods, including the theories of Durkheim.
5. Explain the connection between the nature of society and the nature of the gods, including the work of Horton, Swanson, and Freud.
6. Describe the gods of the Yoruba and Ifugao.
7. Explain the role of the goddess, including Ishtar, Isis, Kali, and Mary.
8. Compare and contrast how God is conceived of in the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
9. Explain the meaning of the term atheism and how this has changed over time.
10. Identify, compare and contrast the three different conceptions of witchcraft.
11. Describe the basic beliefs and behaviors associated with witchcraft in small-scale societies, including the Azande and Navajo.
12. Explain the ways in which witchcraft accusations and behavior reflect the underlying tensions existing in a society.
13. Describe the origins of Euro-American witchcraft beliefs.
14. Outline the historical development of the witch craze.
15. Explain the functional approach to witchcraft beliefs for both small-scale and Euro-American cultures.
16. Explain why women were the main targets for witchcraft accusations in certain cultures or at certain times.

2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11

Module 6 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Describe the mechanisms of cultural change.
2. Explain the processes of acculturation, assimilation, and syncretism, and compare and contrast the three.
3. Describe Haitian Vodou and Santeria as cases of religious syncretism.
4. Explain what a revitalization movement is and under what circumstances one is likely to occur.
5. Describe the stages of a revitalization movement.
6. Identify the types of revitalization movements and provide an example of each.
7. Describe cargo cults, the Ghost Dance, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
8. Explain the different ways the term cult is used and the issues surrounding its use.
9. Describe the characteristics of a high demand religion and the issues that surround these groups.
10. Describe several examples of new religious movements.
11. Explain the term fundamentalism.
12. Outline the origins and basic beliefs of the Wicca religion.

2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10

Module 7 Learning Outcomes

Mapped to Course Competencies (above)

1. Convert class  writing assignment into a media presentation.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of peers presentations and communicate those ideas and questions to classmates.

2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9

Discussion 1

25

2.5%

Discussions 2 - 13 (12 at 50 points each)

600

60%

Dropbox Essays 1 - 5 (5 at 50 points each)

250

25%

Presentation Dropbox

50

5%

Discussion 15

25

2.5%