REL370A - Ethnicity, Gender, and Religion

Professor: Richard Newton Newtonr@etown.edu Office: Wenger Center 212 Office Phone: 717-361-1277 Website: http://sowingtheseed.org

Course Description

Traditionally, survey courses in the world’s religions focus on creedal tenets (e.g. the Eightfold Path, the components of dharma, the Ten Commandments, the Five Pillars of Islam). A different picture of religion arises when we survey constructions of ethnicity and gender throughout global history. This course examines the relationship between these three discourses as categories of human meaning-making. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to consider a variety of case studies, and at each step along the way, we will work toward a deeper understanding of the human condition and how communities have tried to transcend it.

Student Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing the requirements of this course, you will be able to do the following:

(1) define key socio-political signifiers such as “ethnicity,” “race,” “gender,” “sex,”“culture,” and “religion.”    

(2) investigate the interaction between ethnicity, gender, and religion in socio-cultural formation.

(3) explore different cultures and their multiple ways of making sense of the world.

(4) apply sociological, anthropological, psychological and historical tools to the study of religion.

(5) compare expressions of social difference across ancient/modern and socio-political boundaries.

(6) theorize about the role of ethnicity, gender, and religion in current events and in modern religious communities.

(7) apply critical reasoning, reading, writing, and presentation skills to your studies.

(8) Construct an online and in-person learning community centered on consciousness-raising and critical thinking.