| Guidelines for Anthropology of Religion Research and Presentation
1. Class Presentation: The point of this exercise is to get students more directly involved in reading and processing the materials set forth in the course. Students will be asked to introduce one reading to the class, from the shared readings that everyone should be doing. The anthology for the course, Lambek�s A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, contains over 30 essays, more than enough for everyone in the course. Students will be asked to choose one article. At the appropriate point in the course, students will give a brief (3-5 minute) summary of the article, explaining what the key idea of the article is and how it fits into the topic under discussion. Students do not have to stand in front of the room and may do the presentation casually. All they are asked to do is the kick off the discussion by presenting the main points of the article. Students may also find their own article for presentation. Potential sources include other anthologies such as Lessa and Vogt Reader in Comparative Religion Hicks Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion Lehmann, Myers, and Moro Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural You can also use any journal in the anthropology of religion, as well as any of a wide range of websites. You might intentionally want to choose a subject that Lambek does not cover well, such as myth, different kinds of spirits, shamans and priests, religious use of drugs, spiritual conceptions about the environment, medicine and healing, alternative states of consciousness (e.g. trance), death and funerals, sex and gender, or of course any contemporary religious issue. 2. Research Projects: In this course, rather than do a traditional research project, I would like students to write two analytical book reports (so you only have to read two books!). I would like one book report submitted in about the 9th week, and the second at the end of the course. The point of the assignments is to get students to engage the literature and history of anthropological investigations into religion, as well as hopefully to experience in-depth discussions of two religions. For the first report, I would like students to choose a book in anthropology of religion that was written in the period before 1970. For the second report, I would like a book chosen from after 1970. That date is a little arbitrary, but since anthropology went through something of a "crisis" and a rethinking in the late 1960s, it is probably significant also. The goal for each report is first to summarize the pruject and findings of the book. That is, what is the writer trying to accomplish, and what DOES he.she accomplish? Most important books have some agenda--they are trying to prove or disprove some theory or some generalization. Where does the book fit in the history and debates in anthropology over religion? Then, evaluate and critique the work: how well does the author make his/her point? What did they leave out? What would you do differently? How do they contribute to our understanding of religion, and of anthropology, and of humanity? Each report should be relatively short: aim for the range of 5-6 pages. There is an extensive list of possible book choices on this site, and an even more extensive list off-site, linked from here. If you choose one of these, you should be fine. If you find another book that you want to use, you should probably check with me, to make sure it is an anthropological work and that it is meaningful enough to use for this project. There are many books on religion written by non-anthropologists and many books by anthropologists written on things other than religion. There are also some slim case-studies that are not suitable for our purposes. On the other hand, some anthropology of religion books are just too big or too complex for our course; you can look at them again in graduate school! |