Religious Studies

Religious diversity has been noted in big cities like New York and Los Angeles. But smaller cities like Utica have also diversified, seeing unprecedented population shifts in recent years. This course will take advantage of our proximity to Utica, and explore the mosques, temples, synagogues, and churches that exist there today, as well as explore the rich religious history of Central New York, including the Great Awakenings, Utopian communities, and recent immigration patterns.

This course explores a variety of roles religion has played in American culture(s) and some of the ways that American culture has influenced Americans’ religious practices. We will focus on three areas: identity (Americanism), politics (Ballots), and economics (Consumption). In particular, we will consider how religion is involved in the construction of American identity and the exclusion of some people from American polity; how religion is (and is not) intertwined with our political system; and how religion affects – and is affected by – Americans’ economic practices

What leads people to place unwavering faith in others? What are the ramifications of relationships between everyday people and those they revere as semi-divine? This course explores issues of faith and charisma within weekly case studies of Indian gurus, popularly referred to as “godmen” or “godwomen.” We will investigate how such figures gain, use, and sometimes lose popularity and power. The primary context of this course is Hindu India, but we also attend to international gurus such as Swami Vivekananda, Osho, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the Beatles’ guru). The final week explores the viability of the “guru” category to describe popular US influencers such as Oprah Winfrey and Kanye West.

Introduces the practices and beliefs of several major world religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism) through the medium of film. Exploring Japanese anime, Indonesia documentaries, video films from Ghana, Bollywood mythologicals, Jesus-films from Latin America, Korean-Buddhist films, contemporary fictional glimpses into Jewish life, and more, shows how religious people live and struggle and find joy, by using the audio-visual medium of film.

Examination of three aspects of Asian religions: temple as built space, ritual object (e.g., image, talisman, offering, etc.), and ritual practice as intentional use of objects and space. Students work in groups to research an Asian temple of their choice and curate a web-based exhibition of the history of and ritual practices conducted in their temple. Instruction in digital tools of collecting, analyzing, and representing materials in a web-based exhibition. Writing assignments include short essays and a final research project of the student’s design to be presented with text and images in digital form.