Foundations
January 5: Course introductions, expectations
IN CLASS: “Tupac’s Ashes“; “Black Jesuz” [video][lyrics]
IN CLASS: Raising Arizona (1987)
January 6: Definitions & Contexts
READING (online): “Morality in Raising Arizona” (Mazur)
READING (online): “Religion as a Cultural System” (Geertz)
READING: Reader, chapter 10 (Geertz)
January 7: Getting Started – Introduction to Method / Theory
READING: Reader, chapter 1 (Long / Chidester)
READING: Companion, chapter 1 (Lyden); chapter 2 (Mazur)
January 8: The Dominant Culture in America
READING: Reader, chapter 5 (Tillich)
READING: Companion, chapter 4 (Mitchell); chapter 28 (Marsh)
Mediated Encounters
January 9: Music & Radio
READING: Reader, chapter 9 (Berger)
READING: Companion, chapter 6 (Hangen); chapter 7 (Hulsether)
DUE: Social Media Project, part I (“Description”)
January 12: Television & Film
READING: Reader, chapter 2 (Freud)
READING: Companion, chapter 3 (Siegler); chapter 5 (Lyden)
Material & Locative Encounters
January 13: Popular Literature, and Comics & Graphic Novels
READING: Reader, chapter 6 (Barthes); chapter 17 (“What We Know”)
READING: Companion, chapter 11 (Chapman11); chapter 12 (Kraemer & Lewis)
January 14: Civil & Cultural Religion
READING: Companion, chapter 19 (Scholes); chapter 20 (Caterine)
READING: Reader, chapter 8 (Eliade); chapter 15 (“Who We Are”); chapter 16 (“Where We Are”)
January 15: Consumer / Consumed
READING: Reader, chapter 4 (Horkheimer & Adorno); chapter 7 (Turner); chapter 19 (“What We Do”)
READING: Companion, chapter 13 (Zeller); chapter 17 (McFarland Taylor)
Religious Traditions
January 16: Catholics & Jews
READING: Reader, chapter 3 (Durkheim)
READING: Companion, chapter 22 (Payne); chapter 25 (Mazur)
January 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day): NO CLASS
READING (online): “Remember, Celebrate, and Forget” (Weiss)
DUE: Social Media Project, part II (Theory)
January 20: Myths & Rituals of Memorialization / Application of Theory
READING: No new reading
January 21: Muslims, Hindus, & Buddhists
READING: Reader, chapter 11 (Said)
READING: Companion, chapter 21 (Shields); chapter 23 (Nayar); chapter 24 (Youmans)
January 22: Contemporary Paganism
READING: Reader, chapter 13 (Showalter)
READING: Companion, chapter 27 (Vann)
January 23: Conclusions / Last Thoughts About Theory & Writing
READING: No new reading
DUE (by midnight): Social Media Project, Part IV (Integration)
