Religious Studies

This course provides the tools to understand the intersection between religion, media, entertainment, and popular culture in the context of processes generally described as globalization. The course focuses on the formations of contemporary religious communities in various parts of the world, so as to highlight the differences between several religious traditions, the socio-political contexts in which they thrive, and the various means through which these religions are channeled to their audiences and adherents. The focus on media and popular culture includes anthropological understandings of religion, such as the effects that film, music, radio, and social media have in the shaping of power relations between groups of people. 

The course engages the study of ethics in sport as field of academic enquiry in a cross-curricular way with a variety of methodological approaches. It seeks to recognize and critically examine the varieties of ethical traditions, and appreciates the internal diversity within those traditions, in their historical and contemporary manifestations. The course engages with the various methods required for assessment of the media including historical, philosophical, social, and cultural analyses.  Sport in contemporary society has been described both as an expression of the highest human and social values, and as a legally secured parallel world of the elite pursuit of victories and medals. On the one hand, as a sphere of physical self-realization, social formation, and of moral training in fairness, it is seen as an area with standards of excellence that can be closely aligned to ethics. On the other hand, individual sport stars and the institutions of organized sport have been subject to multiple inquiries and critiques: for example, on doping, corruption, sponsorship, and the power of mentors and child protection. The concluding element deals with some of the most pressing ethical issues in the media today.

This course explores classic works of Jewish feminist critique of traditional Judaism and proposals for a Judaism which is in female as well as male image. The course covers contemporary issues that engage feminist Jews, women, and men, such as law, rituals, and prayer, and explores how theory gets applied in practice.

This course introduces the scientific and comparative study of religion, with emphasis on South Asian religions. For each tradition a survey of the relevant original literature is provided. Other topics include the co-existence of different religious traditions, and the social and psychological implications of religious values, beliefs, and rituals.

This course begins by examining early Jewish religious responses to modernity in Western and Central Europe and then turns its attention to the national, secular, and haredi responses in Eastern Europe. It then follows the fortunes of these groups as they were expressed in the New World, most particularly the United States of America. The course then focuses on Zionist formulations of the “New Jew” and their later reconfiguration given the realities of Palestine. It concludes by asking if the fragmentation of Jewish identity has become so profound as to end shared contours.