2014–15 Academic Catalog

2014-15 Undergraduate Index A-Z

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Religious Studies [clear]

Title		Offering	Standing	Credits	Credits	When	F	W	S	Su	Description	Preparatory	Faculty	Days	Multiple Standings	Start Quarters	Open Quarters
Contested Bodies: Representations of Martyrdom Elizabeth Williamson and Amjad Faur aesthetics cultural studies religious studies visual arts		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day	F 14 Fall				How is the image of the martyr a revolutionary image? What is the function of the martyr’s body as a sign of her beliefs? This upper-division program will examine representations of martyrdom in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts, with a particular emphasis on colonialism and its aftermath. Students will deepen their skills in visual analysis through careful study of the visual languages of European (Christian) martyrdom, Shi’a martyrdom and contemporary Islamic martyrdom.Martyrdom is by no means an exclusively religious phenomenon—it has always been shaped by larger political struggles—but we will pay attention to the representational paradoxes involved in making images of martyrs within communities in which idol worship is technically forbidden. Most of all, we will seek to resist the stereotypical notion of the martyr as mindless fanatic. To do this, we will examine the conditions of oppression under which martyrdom becomes one of a small number of viable choices, as well as the individual martyr’s resistance to those conditions. The martyr’s body is a site of contestation between various ideological frameworks, but it can also be a site of empowerment.This program is ideal for students who wish to hone their analytical skills, especially in relation to the close reading of images within their historical contexts. Students will complete investigative assignments to supplement the case studies covered in lecture and will be asked to design a research-based independent project related to program themes. The reading load for this program will be heavy and will involve critical theory as well as essays on particular historical moments and images. There will be no studio instruction in photography. Students will benefit from previous study of art history and/or post-colonialism, but neither are required in order to succeed in the program.		Elizabeth Williamson Amjad Faur		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall
Landscapes of Faith and Power in the Eastern Mediterranean Steven Niva, Sarah Eltantawi and Martha Henderson geography international studies religious studies study abroad Signature Required: Winter		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day	F 14 Fall	W 15Winter	S 15Spring		This program explores the geography of religion, culture and politics in the Eastern Mediterranean region with a special emphasis on the culture and politics of Egypt and Turkey. Drawing upon the fields of political ecology, comparative religion and political science, we will examine how political power and religious beliefs appear on the landscape of the region and how this landscape has been transformed and contested through political and social change. The program will look at how various empires, states and religious traditions have transformed the geography of the region and left a visible trace on the landscape, while also addressing how contemporary struggles for justice or cultural identity are creating new geographies and landscapes. We will learn to read the landscape as an artifact of historical social processes and as emblematic of contemporary identities and power relations. We will explore the major religious traditions in the region, the role of sacred spaces and religious practices in community formation, ecological conditions as the product of political pressures, and the shaping of cultural and political conditions across this region through the rise and fall of past empires and the creation of modern states.In the fall and winter quarters, students will learn about contemporary political struggles in the region resulting from the Arab and Turkish democratic uprisings, cultural and political geography, environmental conditions, comparative religious study and how to read landscapes with a particular focus on Turkey and Egypt. Students will develop a strong regional understanding of the history of Eastern Mediterranean, including the history and culture of ancient Egypt and Neolithic Anatolia; the rise of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; the transformation of the region through European colonialism and the rise of modern nation-states. We will also examine the politics of inclusion/exclusion and economic inequality in important urban landscapes like Istanbul, Cairo and Jerusalem.In the spring, some students will have the opportunity to participate in a seven-week study-abroad program that goes to Turkey and Egypt and further explores questions about geography, landscape, faith and power. Students who do not travel will build upon their program work to examine the landscapes of faith and power that link the Middle East with the Pacific Northwest through a study of cultural and religious geography in this region.		Steven Niva Sarah Eltantawi Martha Henderson		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter Spring
Odissi Dance and Culture Jamie Colley anthropology consciousness studies cultural studies dance religious studies		Course	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	4	04	Evening			S 15Spring		Odissi, one of the major classical dances of India, combines both complex rhythmic patterns and expressive mime. This class will be devoted to the principles of Odissi dance, the synthesis of foot, wrist, hand and face movements in a lyrical flow to express the philosophy of yoga based dance. Throughout the quarter, we will study the music, religion, and history of Indian dance and culture.		Jamie Colley	Tue Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Odissi Dance and Culture Jamie Colley anthropology consciousness studies cultural studies dance religious studies		Course	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	4	04	Evening	F 14 Fall				Odissi, one of the major classical dances of India, combines both complex rhythmic patterns and expressive mime. This class will be devoted to the principles of Odissi dance, the synthesis of foot, wrist, hand and face movements in a lyrical flow to express the philosophy of yoga based dance. Throughout the quarter, we will study the music, religion, and history of Indian dance and culture.		Jamie Colley	Tue Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall
Religion and the Constitution cancelled		Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day		W 15Winter			The framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to ensure that the federal government would neither promote religion nor interfere with religious liberty. The very first two clauses of the First Amendment capture the framers' concern: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." On parchment, those 16 words seem simple enough. In practice, however, the two clauses often are in tension and give rise to enduring controversy over the meaning of "establishment" and "free exercise." For example, if the government exempts church property from taxation, is it assisting the establishment of religion? If the government does not exempt church property from taxation, is it interfering in the free exercise of religion?In the United States, controversies about what the religion clauses prohibit or protect intensified in the 1940s, when the U.S. Supreme Court first recognized that the First Amendment applied to the states, not just to the federal government. We will use the case method to study every major court opinion that implicates the First Amendment's religion clauses. This intensive study necessarily focuses on the last 75 years, since it was not until the 1940 case of Cantwell v. Connecticut that the Supreme Court began to protect religious rights under the First Amendment.Working in legal teams, students will develop appellate briefs on real freedom of religion cases decided recently by the U.S. Courts of Appeals and will present oral arguments before the "Evergreen Supreme Court." Students will also rotate as justices to read their peers' appellate briefs, hear arguments and render decisions. Readings for the program will include Internet resources and various books and journal articles, as well as court opinions. Study will be rigorous; the principal text will be a law school casebook.		Jose Gomez		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter
Sacred Movement, Sacred Sound Sean Williams and Robert Esposito dance international studies music religious studies somatic studies		Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day	F 14 Fall				This program explores the connection between spirituality and the performing arts in multiple contexts. First, we will examine the physical context of ritual spaces such as temples and landscapes in Japan, India, China, Tibet, and elsewhere. Second, we will discuss the context of the mind, in which spiritual concepts of liminality, cosmology, and mindfulness combine with both Asian and Western ways of thinking. In addition, because interdependence in community and family is an essential aspect of spiritual ways of knowing; some of our work includes collaboration through discussion, presentation, and performance. We will use sound and movement in theory and practice to better understand these connections. Each week will include lectures, workshops, seminars, films, and some type of engagement in the arts. The college owns an Indonesian gamelan, which students in this program will learn to play as part of their work in understanding community music-making from an Asian culture. Gamelan playing requires sitting on the floor, letting go of starring in the rehearsal or performance, and playing well with others. We will incorporate physical movement throughout the quarter as we come to develop our understanding of the relationship between body, mind, and spirit.Students enrolled in this program will be expected to participate fully in all program activities, including those that require some element of the unfamiliar (for example, moving the body in various ways and learning to make new vocal and instrumental sounds). In the ten weeks of fall quarter, each student is expected to write two research papers, develop one collaborative presentation, and create one solo presentation. Other writing, rehearsals, and exploratory activities will occur as well. Your contribution to this program will be most effective if you choose to take your work and your ideas as seriously as we do.		Sean Williams Robert Esposito	Mon Tue Tue Tue Wed Wed Thu Thu Thu	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall
Student-Originated Studies: Independent Projects in Literature, Philosophy, Myth/Religion and Writing Marianne Bailey literature philosophy religious studies writing		SOS	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day			S 15Spring		In this SOS, students will learn how to conceive, plan, structure and successfully carry through a major independent learning project. More importantly, they will have the pleasure and fulfillment of realizing a major college-level independent body of work. Students have an exciting array of humanities and artistic areas to work in. For example, I can foresee projects as different from one another as a well edited collection of stories or free form poetry, perhaps illustrated and bound in a beautiful book, or a research project in religious symbolism and ritual in Celtic or Haitian worldviews, or in archetypal characters such as the Trickster, the Underworld mediators, or the artist/Orpheus and his quest. A student could write and compile an innovative collection of essays and images dealing with a philosopher such as Nietzsche or Foucault; or with a philosophical topic, such as the human/nature relationship, or the power and nature of artistic language. Students could also plan and research a transformational, pilgrimage journey, keep a rich travel journal, make art quality photographs and present the pilgrimage experiences at the quarter’s end to your colleagues in the class. Students could plan a multimedia spectacle or a short film based on artistic work as a small group in the style of the Surrealists.In other words, if it is a challenging academic or artistic body of work which you find deeply fascinating and which will keep you going enthusiastically for a quarter, we can shape this idea and make it possible for you to carry it through. We will do this step-by-step, in close collaboration between professor and individual student, and with the support of a small group of other program students working in similar veins of inquiry or creation, who will serve as a critique and support group. At Evergreen this mode of intellectual and creative work is a hallmark of our belief in fostering self-direction, intellectual discipline and stamina, and in pursuing academic projects about which we are passionate. It is no easy feat, however, to master the fine art of writing and proposing, let alone bringing to fruition, a top quality independent learning project. The purpose of this SOS is first, to coach you through the conception stage, then, to help you to choose your readings and activities and make your schedule, and finally, to guide and support you along the path to completion of the best work of which you are capable.During the first eight weeks of spring quarter, students will meet every week with their professor as an individual, and as a member of a small work and critique group. We will meet as a large group, as well. Students will report in writing and orally on their progress every week. In the final weeks of the quarter, all students will present their completed work to the group.Students enrolling should have a first proposal of a project which they want strongly to undertake, including, at least, the kind of work you plan to do, for example: writing poetry, studying the work of a given writer or philosopher, and/or studying a particular kind of religious or mythic symbolism. This should be carefully written, typed and ready on the first day of class. The rest we will do during the first two weeks of the program. You may enroll in this program for 12 or 16 credits.		Marianne Bailey	Mon Wed	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring