Spring 2022, CairoThematic Course
Anthropology of Religion: History of Religion and Rituals
Course details
- Cycle
- Spring 2022, Cairo
- Starts
- Tuesday, Feb 8
- Meets
- Tuesday, 18:30–21:00
- Length
- 12 sessions
- Format
- Hybrid
- Taught in
- English
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“Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment, and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.” – Margaret Mead
About the course
Anthropology is the study of people, cultures, and the human condition. This course introduces the concepts of religion and spirituality with an anthropological, historical, social, and cultural lens that focuses on rituals and healing. Our question does not focus on the synopsis of different religions in the world, it is rather an exploration and investigation of the history of religio-spiritual practices. This includes rituals, magic and witchcraft, myth, and the history of religion and spiritual healing. Our aim is to investigate how all of these concepts are created and recreated to form the spiritual beliefs and practices that are popular today.
Course Objectives
Some of the questions we’re going to cover in this course are:
- What is anthropology as a field and mode of knowledge and practice? - How to conduct ethnographic fieldwork? - What is the history of religion? - What is the history of spiritual practices that are popular today? - What is spiritual healing and how does it manifest itself in our lives? - How do we understand the metaphysical realm in our everyday life?
This course will help participants:
· Analyze and interpret beliefs, practices, and social structures in religious traditions from an anthropological perspective · Cover sufficient conceptual and background material on the selected topic. · Reflect on the literature directly related to the history and theories of anthropology of religion and magic and the debate over the mystical and the modern mind/mentality. · Compare and contrast popular spiritual healing practices from around the globe with those prevalent in Egypt. · Write fieldnotes. · Conduct ethnographic fieldwork on a topic of the student’s choice.
Who teaches it
Sohayla is a PhD student, social researcher, medical anthropologist, and sexual and reproductive health and rights specialist, based in Cairo, Egypt. She worked as a research consultant at the American University of Beirut, and she is also a founding member of the East Mediterranean Federation of Sexual Health (EMFeSH). With her advocacy roles, she is focused on intersectionality, structural violence, and gender justice. Throughout her career, she worked on producing journal articles, technical reports, proposals, case studies, evaluation reports, and training manuals. Her research style merges theoretical and fieldwork approaches. She holds an M.A in Social Anthropology and a B.A in Political Science from the American University in Cairo.
Course flow
February 2022
Part One: Anthropology and History
Open discussion: What is anthropology and what is history and how can we use both to investigate the cultural aspects of religion and belief systems.
February 8th
- Chapter 1: Disorientation and Orientation in Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.Delaney, C and Kaspin, D. 1-32
- An introduction to the discipline of anthropology
- Anthropology bel 3araby - What is anthropology?Alternative to the previous video (“Or”)
February 22nd
- Shane the Lone Ethnographer: A Beginner’s Guide to EthnographyCampbell, S. 2007
- “I am a Fieldnote”Jackson, J. (1990). Alternative to the previous reading (“or”)
In class
- ExerciseIn class exercise: Listen and Analyze the song “Tom’s Diner” and write a fieldnote.
March 2022
Part Two: Rituals and the Body
March 1st
- ‘Religion and Ritual’ (Chapter 14) Small Places, Large Issues an Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology. 3rd ed. Anthropology, Culture, and Society. New York: Pluto Press.Eriksen, Thomas H. 2010
- History of Ideas: Rituals
In class
- ExerciseExercise: Start a self-healing practice and carry it out till the end of the course + keep taking field notes and writing reflections.
March 8th
- Religion and the Body: Rematerializing the Human Body in the Social Sciences of Religion.McGuire, M. (1990)
March 15th
- “Recovering the Invisible: Methods for the Historical Study of the Emotions,” Doing Emotions History, p. 41-53.Susan J Matt
- When the Body Says ‘No’: The Cost of Hidden Stress. NY and Toronto: A.Knopf., Ltd.Mate, G. (2003). Alternative to the previous reading (“or”)
- The Body Keeps the Score
- Heal or Unwell (Netflix) or What the Health“and/or” with the previous video
In class
- DiscussionDiscuss mini ethnographies to prepare for elevator pitches.
Part Three: The Magical, Mystical, and Unseen
March 29th
April 5th
- Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. Florence, United Kingdom: Routledge.Douglas, M. (2002). (pp. 1-7; 95-115)
- The Savage Mind.Levi-Strauss, C. (1962). (1-34). Alternative to the previous reading (“Or”)
- History of Ideas: Modernity
April 2022
April 12th
- Saheb el MakamWatch, Analyze and Review
Part Four: Healing and the New Age
April 19th
- Modern Psychology and Ancient Wisdom: Psychological Healing Practices from the World’s Religious Traditions. Routledge.Mijares, S. (2002) (Buddhism – Christianity – Goddess Spirituality – Judaism – Native American Psychspirituality – Sufism – Taoism – Yoga and Hinduism)
In class
- ExerciseExercise: 500-words reflection or mini presentation on a tradition that is not your own (Due before class on the 19th).
April 26th
- Consuming the Self: New Age Spirituality as “Social Product” in Consumer Society. Consumption Markets and Culture.Rindfleish, J. (2005)
April 30th - (Rescheduled for Eid on May 3rd)
In class
- PresentationFinal Presentations for Creative Projects
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