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ANT3006 Religion & Ritual

ANT3006 (S1) RELIGION AND RITUAL

Module Convenor: Dr Paulo Sousa

Lecture Time: to be confirmed, venue to be arranged.

There is a fortnightly tutorial (time to be arranged).

Religion and Ritual have long been central topics in anthropology.  Therefore it is important for students to have an insight into what anthropology of religion can be about.  I say can be about because approaches and interests are broad when it comes to the topic and therefore from much material to select.  The path we are taking starts with an introduction into theories about religion as put forward by early anthropologists and social scientists.  These are important because anthropological discourse about religion is still influenced directly and indirectly by these early thoughts.  From there we will go on to discuss how anthropologists have approached the concept of ritual.  We will do that by looking first at the time in ritual and then the ritual language in different contexts.  This will move us into combining the idea of space with the formerly discussed concept time to show how different types of ritual are about ordering a different kind of personal and social spaces.  Finally we will discuss the popular topic of social change and religion in two different contexts.