REL 6319: Interpreting Asian Religions Fall 2004
Meeting time and location:
Thursday
Instructor: Jason Neelis
Office: 130
Office hours: Tuesday
Phone: 352-392-1625, ext. 240
e-mail:
jneelis@religion.ufl.edu
course
website: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jneelis/classes/REL_6319_syllabus.htm
Course description and goals
This graduate seminar is designed to expose participants to
contemporary debates, critical methods, and theories of interpretation of Asian
religions. An important goal of the seminar is to develop an understanding of the
genealogy or history of the academic field and related disciplines. Ongoing encounters
between outside interpreters of Asian religious traditions and the dynamic
responses within these traditions will be explored. "Orientalist
critiques" and Postcolonial perspectives will also be investigated.
Interpreting Asian Religions is an advanced seminar for
graduate students in the Religions of Asia track, but graduate students with a
background in Asian Studies can enroll with the instructor’s permission.
Textbooks (available for purchase at Goerings Book Store,
*King, Richard. Orientalism
and Religion: Postcolonial
Lopez, Donald. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism
and the West.
*Taylor, Mark C., ed. Critical Terms for Religious Studies.
Books, Journals, and articles on Course Reserve [preliminary list]
Brooks, Douglas R. “The Thousand-Headed Person: The Mystery
of Hinduism and the Study of Religion in the
Cabezón, José Ignazio. “Buddhist Studies as a Discipline and the Role of
Theory,” Journal of the International
Association of Buddhist Studies 18.2 (1995) 231-268.
Courtright,
Paul. Gaṇeśa: Lord of Obstacles,
Lord of Beginnings.
Fitzgerald, James (translator). The Mahābhārata.
Vol. 7 (11. The Book of the Women
and 12. The Book of Peace, Part One).
*Gandhi, Leela. Postcolonial
Theory: A Critical Introduction.
Girardot,
Norman J. “’Finding the Way’: James Legge and the
Victorian Invention of Taoism,” Religion 29 (1999) 107-121. (*available
online through the UF Library catalg and www.sciencedirect.com)
Gómez,
Luis O. “Unspoken Paradigms: Meanderings through the Metaphors of a Field,” Journal of the International Association of
Buddhist Studies 18.2 (1995) 183-230.
*Halbfass, William.
Jensen, Lionel. Manufacturing
Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization. Duke
University Press,
Laine,
James. Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic
Lopez, Donald, ed. Curators of the Buddha: the study of
Buddhism under colonialism.
*McCutcheon, Russell T. Manufacturing Religion: The
Discourse on Sui Generis
Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia.
Oberoi,
Harjot. The Construction of Religious Boundaries:
Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Trasition.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. Pantheon Books,
*Schopen, Gregory. Bones, Stones
and Buddhist Monks.
Schopen, Gregory. Buddhist Monks
and Business Matters.
Schwab, Raymond. The
Oriental Renaissance: Europe‘s Rediscovery of India and the East, 1680-1880.
Translated by Gene Patterson-Black and Victor Reinking
with a Foreword by Edward W. Said.
Snodgrass, Judith. Presenting Japanese
Buddhism to the West: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and
the Columbian Exposition.
Requirements
1) 3 response papers based on reading assignments (30%):
Participants are required to submit short papers on 1)
2) Seminar participation and presentation (40%):
Participants are expected to come to each meeting prepared
to contribute to the discussion of the assigned readings, which must be
completed in advance. Individual participants may be asked (or “volunteered“)
to lead the discussion on particular chapters or articles. In addition to group
reading assignments and discussions during the first nine weeks of the
semester, each participant is required to make an individual presentation
during the last four weeks based on one of the texts suggested by the
instructor (alternative suggestions can be considered, as long as the books or
articles are available to other participants, and the possibilities are
discussed with the instructor at least two weeks in advance of the meeting).
Participants should frame their presentations in the larger context of patterns
in the interpretation of particular Asian religions (i.e. Hinduism, Sikhism,
Confucianism, Japanese Buddhism) that are the focus of
the primary texts. Optimally, individual presenters should have some background
knowledge or specialized interest in these religious traditions in order to
help the other participants understand the framework for the text. Participants
must complete the reading assignments to contribute to discussions during
individual presentations.
3) Term paper (30%):
A term paper submitted at the end of the semester (by
December 13) should critically analyze an issue in the interpretation of a certain
Asian religious tradition. Topics may be
based on the individual presentations, using the presentation as a touchstone
to critique a particular method used in approaching primary sources, to analyze
the works of an influential scholar or school of scholarship, or to investigate
the application of a theoretical model to the study of a text, religious
figure, or historical period. Participants should begin developing ideas for
the term paper early in the semester and should attempt to integrate points
raised in discussions of the reading assignments. The instructor is available
to discuss the development of topics for the term paper.
Tentative Schedule
Week 1 (8/26) Course Introduction: Genealogy/History of
the study of Asian Religions + Methods of Interpretation
Week 2 (9/2) Early Encounters with Asian Religions and
Western responses
Week 3 (9/9) Indian responses to European encounters
Recommended: Gustavo Benavides, “Modernity” (pp. 186-204)
and Paul Stoller, “Rationality” (pp. 239-255) in Critical
Terms for Religious Studies
Week 4 (9/16) Terms of Dialogue with Asian Religions
Response paper #1 due during the following week (by 9/24)
Week 5 (9/23) Critique of the World Religions Model
Week 6 (9/30) Orientalism
and Indian Religions: “Imagining” the ‘Mystic East’
Recommended: Edward Said, Orientalism
[review if previously read]
Week 7 (10/7) Beyond Orientalism? Postcolonial
Perspectives
Recommended: Leela Gandhi, Postcolonial
Theory [particularly Chapter 4: “Edward Said and his critics”]
Response paper #3 due during the following week (by 10/15)
Week 8 (10/14) Buddhism I: Appropriations of Tibetan
Buddhism
Recommended: Raymond Schwab, Oriental Renaissance, pp. 108-122, 289-295; Gregory Schopen,
“Relic” (pp. 256-268) in Critical Terms for Religious Studies
Week 9 (10/21) Buddhism II: Tibetan Buddhism in the
Luis O. Gómez, “Unspoken
Paradigms” and José Ignazio Cabezón, “Buddhist
Studies as a Discipline and the Role of Theory,” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 18.2
(1995), 183-268.
Response Paper #3 due during the following week (10/28)
Week 10 (10/28) Individual Presentation: Interpreting
Hinduism
Recommended: Brooks, Douglas R. “The Thousand-Headed Person:
The Mystery of Hinduism and the Study of Religion in the AAR,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion
62.4 (1994) 1111-1126; Sam Gill, “Territory” (pp. 298-313) and/or Bruce B.
Lawrence, “Transformation” (pp. 334-448) in Critical Terms for Religious
Studies
Week 11 (11/4) Individual Presentation: Interpreting Sikhism
Recommended: Tomoko Masuzawa,
“Culture” (pp. 70-93) in Critical Terms for Religious Studies
Week 12 (11/11) Veterans Day – Class cancelled
Week 13 (11/18) Individual Presentation: Interpreting East Asian Religions
Norman J. Girardot, “’Finding the
Way’: James Legge and the Victorian Invention of
Taoism,” Religion 29 (1999) 107-121.
Recommended: Catherine Bell, “Performance” (pp. 205-224) in Critical Terms for Religious Studies
Week 14 (11 / 25) Thanksgiving – Class cancelled
Week 15 (12/2) Individual Presentation: Interpreting Japanese Buddhism