How does the ambience at a gurudwara in London transport visitors to the Punjab? What makes the replica of a Shinto shrine in Hawaii as sacred as its original in Japan? Why are St. Patrick’s Day parades larger in New York than they are in Dublin? Is a Vedic fire ritual conducted in Dubai less efficacious or equal to one in Mumbai? Do the consecrated images of gods need passports when being transported across international borders? Inspired by these questions, this discussion-intensive seminar interrogates the seemingly locked connections between religion and nationality. Both popular and scholarly notions of religious authenticity have frequently distinguished specific geographical locations as uniquely sacred, prizing the doctrinal and praxis systems in these original centers as authoritative models. This course challenges the emphasis upon territorial particularism by highlighting accounts of religion from locations deemed marginal to grand narratives of religious traditions. Through close engagements with numerous case studies centered in the North American context, it exposes students to religious beliefs and practices held by diverse communities–professing identities grounded in histories of dispersion, travel, and movement–that may be variously termed as immigrant, transnational, or diasporic. These perspectives will assist in decentering ideas of homelands as stationary sources of credible religious experience. Instead, they will enable students to better understand definitions of religion that stress dynamism, process, communication, and movement. The final project for this class entails conducting ethnographic fieldwork among a diasporic community to gain a better understanding of religious diversity in the Greater Providence Area. 

Elective

This course is an exploration of the ways in which Buddhist philosophy and religious practice, and the commercial works of Buddhist temples, shape societies both where Buddhists are a majority and minority. In this lecture-based course, we will explore the diverse manifestations of Buddhist doctrines, practices, and institutions across a wide array of socio-historical contexts. More specifically, we will learn about how Buddhist communities, artistic conventions, narrative traditions, and cosmological understandings have been influenced by, and exercise effects upon, distinct historical, economic, political, and cultural settings. Our functional premise is that religion is never divorced from its time and place, and also that Buddhist thought makes its way into countless objects, legends, and cultural productions even outside of Buddhist communities. Apart from reading texts from the disciplinary perspectives of religious studies, history, and anthropology, we will also engage with the impressive collection of Buddhist artefacts at the RISD museum and take part in field trips to interact with practitioners at two Buddhist centers in the Greater Providence Area. Evaluations will include (but are not limited to) regular written assignments, brief quizzes, and an end-of-term debate concerning a topic pertinent to the course’s themes.

Elective