The student will be able to:

1. Recognize, articulate and apply an anthropological approach to the study of religion in a socio-cultural context.
2. Understand the role of culture in shaping the ways humans know about, perceive and interact with their world.
3. Define religion and associated concepts dealing with the supernatural using a cross-cultural, anthropological perspective.
4. Compare and contrast elements of religion such as symbolism, mythology, ritual, magic, divination, religious specialists, shamanism, traditional healing practices, witchcraft, supernatural entities, and religious revitalization movements, as well as expressions of these religious elements found in small-scale and complex societies from the past and present around the world.
5. Recognize the value of anthropological principles for resolving conflict and solving human problems on the local, regional and world scales, particularly through an understanding and awareness of holism, ethnocentric biases, anthropological methods and the value of practicing cultural relativism.

1. Introduction to the anthropology of religion
   1. Anthropology as a discipline, and the 4 fields
   2. The anthropology of religion as a sub-field, and how it is integrated with the 4 fields
      1. The bio-cultural approach to religion
      2. Physical anthropology—religion from an evolutionary perspective
      3. Archaeology—methods and approaches to study the religions of peoples of the past
      4. Linguistic anthropology—the role of language and linguistic expression in belief systems
      5. Cultural anthropology—religion as an element/component of culture
   3. Anthropological perspectives
      1. Concept and characteristics of culture and cultural systems
      2. Holism and the holistic approach to studying religion
      3. Naive realism and avoiding ethnocentrism
      4. Cultural relativism and the cultural relativism dilemma
      5. Etic vs. emic perspectives
      6. Ethnographic fieldwork methods and ethics
   4. Anthropological approaches to studying religion
      1. Attempts at defining religion
      2. World religions vs. religions of the world
      3. Animism, monotheism, polytheism, atheism
      4. Cross-cultural (etic) concepts associated with supernatural beings and forces
      5. Theoretical approaches to the study of religion
   5. The biological basis of religious behavior
2. Myth and mythology
   1. The nature of myths
   2. Myths and the construction of worldview
   3. Myth as a form of folklore
   4. Understanding and analyzing myths
      1. Common themes and motifs
      2. Approaches to the analysis of myths
      3. Joseph Campbell's monomyth and hero cycle
   5. Mythology applied: the importance of understanding myth in today's global world
3. Religious symbols and symbolism
   1. The nature of symbols and the construction of meaning
   2. Survey of key religious symbols
      1. Master or key symbols
   3. Sacred art, music and dance
   4. Sacred time and space
4. Ritual, pilgrimages and rites of passage
   1. The basics of ritual performance
   2. Typologies of religious ritual
   3. Survey of ethnographic examples of ritual
   4. Rites of passage
   5. Pilgrimages
   6. Function and effect of ritual performance on the individual and collective
5. Altered states of consciousness (ASC)
   1. The nature of ASC
      1. The biological basis for ASC
      2. Modes of consciousness
      3. Methods and cultural explanations for inducing ASC
   2. ASC and the religious experience
   3. Ethnographic examples of ASC
6. Religious specialists
   1. The diversity of religious specialists
      1. Classifications and typologies of religious specialists
   2. Shamans and shamanism
      1. Definitions and characteristics of shamans and shamanism
      2. Ethnographic examples from diverse cultural areas
      3. Neoshamanism
   3. Priests
   4. Prophets
   5. Healers, diviners and other religious specialists
7. Magic and divination
   1. Magic vs. religion vs. science
   2. The laws of magic
      1. Law of sympathy
      2. Law of contagion
   3. The function of magic
   4. Divination
   5. Ethnographic examples from small scale and complex societies
8. Souls, ghosts, ancestors and death rituals
   1. Cultural concepts and constructs of the human soul
   2. Beliefs and rituals associated with the afterlife
   3. Ancestor worship and veneration
   4. Cross-cultural survey of death rituals
9. Witchcraft
   1. The cross-cultural concept and function of witchcraft
   2. Euro-American witchcraft beliefs
      1. The Witchcraze in Europe, England and the United States
      2. Pagan and neopagan religions
10. Ethnomedicine and religious healing
    1. Ethnomedicine vs. religious healing vs. biomedicine
       1. Concepts of health
       2. Etiology of disease/illness
       3. Treatment
       4. Specialists
    2. Medical anthropology
11. Religion in contemporary contexts
    1. Adaptation and change
       1. Processes and dynamics of culture change
       2. Syncretism and syncretic religions
       3. Religious diaspora
    2. Revitalization movements
    3. Fundamentalism and New Religious Movements
    4. Religious associations with political movements, terrorism and conflict
    5. Secularism, atheism and irreligion

Not applicable.

Written assignments
1. Weekly reflections on readings
2. Term paper on field research and/or secondary source research based on ethnographic sources
3. In-class writing
Oral presentations
1. In-class discussion
2. Group and individual presentations
In-class quizzes and exams
1. Quizzes
2. Mid-term exams
3. Final exam

Lecture
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Field work
Oral presentations

Stein, R., and P. Stein. The Anthropology of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion, 4th ed.. 2017.

Bowen, John. Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion. 2017.

Winzeler, Robert. Anthropology and Religion: What We Know, Think, and Question, 2nd ed.. 2012.

Hicks, David. Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion, 3rd ed.. 2010.

Bowie, Fiona. The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction. 2005.

Lambek, M.. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, 2nd ed.. 2008.

Lehman, A.C., and J.E. Myers. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion, 7th ed.. 2008.

Moro, Pamela. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, 9th ed.. 2013.

Winkelman, Michael, and John Baker. Supernatural as Natural: A Biocultural Approach to Religion. 2010.

Although some texts are older than the suggested "5 years or newer" standard, they remain seminal texts in this are of study.

1. Reading assigned texts, articles or handouts and studying class notes.
2. Doing various homework, including writing reading response essays and short papers.
3. Preparing an oral presentation or written research paper based on individual or group research or fieldwork.
4. Conducting research based on secondary sources.
5. Conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a local setting.