Religion and the History of Hip Hop

Religion and Hip Hop Hist

This is an undergraduate lecture course introducing students to the study of religion through an engagement with the history of hip hop music. More specifically, this course is organized chronologically to narrate a history of religion in the United States (circa 1970 to the present day) by mapping the ways that a variety of religious ideas and practices have animated rap music’s evolution and expansion during this time period. While there are no required prerequisites for the course, prior coursework in religious studies, African American studies, and/or popular music is helpful.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• 4 points

Religion and the History of Hip Hop - Di

Reli and Hip Hop History-

This is an undergraduate lecture course introducing students to the study of religion through an engagement with the history of hip hop music. More specifically, this course is organized chronologically to narrate a history of religion in the United States (circa 1970 to the present day) by mapping the ways that a variety of religious ideas and practices have animated rap music’s evolution and expansion during this time period. While there are no required prerequisites for the course, prior coursework in religious studies, African American studies, and/or popular music is helpful.

• W 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Samuel R Stella
  Info
• 0 points

Religion and the History of Hip Hop - Di

Reli and Hip Hop History-

This is an undergraduate lecture course introducing students to the study of religion through an engagement with the history of hip hop music. More specifically, this course is organized chronologically to narrate a history of religion in the United States (circa 1970 to the present day) by mapping the ways that a variety of religious ideas and practices have animated rap music’s evolution and expansion during this time period. While there are no required prerequisites for the course, prior coursework in religious studies, African American studies, and/or popular music is helpful.

• W 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• W 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 10:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
• R 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• R 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• F 11:10 a.m.-noon
• F 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• F 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• F 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• Instructor: Samuel R Stella
  Info
• 0 points

BUDDHISM: EAST ASIAN

Lecture and discussion. An introductory survey that studies East Asian Buddhism as an integral , living religious tradition. Emphasis on the reading of original treatises and historiographies in translation, while historical events are discussed in terms of their relevance to contemporary problems confronted by Buddhism. There is a mandatory weekly discussion session.

• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Michael Como
  CULPA: 20 Info
• 4 points

BUDDHISM: EAST ASIAN-DISC

• W 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Como
  CULPA: 20 Info
• 0 points

BUDDHISM: EAST ASIAN-DISC

• W 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• W 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• W 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 9:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
• R 5:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• R 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• F 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• F 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• F 2:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Como
  CULPA: 20 Info
• 0 points

Heretics and Heathens: The Politics of D

From Salem witches to QAnon conspiracy theories, deviant and heretical behaviors take various forms. But who holds the power to label someone a heretic, a heathen, or a deviant? For what purposes? And with what consequences? Heretics and Heathens: The Politics of Deviance in America explores these questions by analyzing the social dynamics that position outsiders and insiders and the underlying logics that inform and justify social positioning. Through case studies in U.S. history, including the Salem witch trials, the Red Scare, and the People’s Temple, we will examine how categories of deviance are socially constructed and used to stigmatize beliefs, practices, and individuals, and the material consequences of casting individuals and groups into these social roles. Students will analyze media and discourse to evaluate how these roles function, and to understand why and when they are deployed. The course will conclude with students developing their own case studies examining how categories of deviance are used to position an individual or group as beyond the threshold of cultural acceptability.

• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Gabriella Lee
  Info
• 3 points

UNCONSCIOUS AND JEWISH THOUGHT

This survey aims to reflect on the specific dialogue between faith and theories of the mind. After an overview of pre-Freudian notions of the unconscious, the course will examine Freuds 1896 Theory of the unconscious mind and the key analytical concepts which display similarities between psychoanalysis and Jewish thought, from Talmudic hermeneutics to Kabbalah studies. We will explore the unconscious through readings from Leibnitz, Schelling, Goethe, von Hartmann, Freud, Jung, as well as its preludes and echoes in the Talmud and in the writings of Azriel of Gerona, the Magid of Mezrich, Krochmal, Leiner, Lou Andreas Salome, Scholem, Idel, Wolfson.

• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Clemence C Boulouque
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

Women and Islam

This course is a comprehensive engagement with Islamic perspectives on women with a specific focus on the debates about woman’s role and status in Muslim societies. Students will learn how historical, religious, socio-economic and political factors influence the lives and experiences of Muslim women. A variety of source materials (the foundational texts of Islam, historical and ethnographic accounts, women’s and gender studies scholarship) will serve as the framework for lectures. Students will be introduced to women’s religious lives and a variety of women’s issues as they are reported and represented in the works written by women themselves and scholars chronicling women’s religious experiences.

We will begin with an overview of the history and context of the emergence of Islam from a gendered perspective. We will explore differing interpretations of the core Islamic texts concerning women, and the relationship between men and women: who speaks about and for women in Islam? In the second part of the course we will discuss women’s religious experiences in different parts of the Muslim world. Students will examine the interrelationship between women and religion with special emphasis on the ways in which the practices of religion in women’s daily lives impact contemporary societies.  

All readings will be in English. Prior course work in Islam or women’s studies is recommended, but not required.

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Aziza Shanazarova
  Info
• 4 points

READING (IN THEORY)

This reading-intensive course will engage, over time with essential texts of the current critical canon. Offered over a series of semesters, it is aimed at developing a practice of reading: close or distant, and always attentive. Let us say: slow reading. What does it mean to read? Where and when does reading start? Where does it founder? What does reading this author (Freud, for example) or that author (say, Foucault) do to the practice of reading? Can we read without misreading? Can we read for content or information without missing the essential? Is there such a thing as essential reading? Favoring a demanding and strenuous exposure to the text at hand, this course promises just that: a demanding and strenuous exposure to reading. The course can be repeated for credit.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Gil Anidjar
  CULPA: 22 Info
• 3 points

THESIS RESEARCH & WRITING

This course is intended for MA students in Religion who are writing and completing a thesis or other paper of similar length and scope. Enrolled students will work with the instructor to develop, research, and write a thesis. Preparation and prerequisites: Instructor’s permission is required to enroll. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss the feasibility of potential thesis topics with a faculty member in Religion (preferably their advisor or other suitable faculty member), and if relevant, also strive to identify key primary texts or sources, in advance of the semester.

• Instructor: Gil Anidjar
  CULPA: 22 Info
• 4 points

RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE

There is no shortage of spilled ink, popular media coverage, scholarly inquiry, and academic institutes—including right here at Columbia University—dedicated to examining the intersection of religion and public life. From narratives of religion’s predicted decline during the twentieth century to its much-discussed global resurgence at the turn of the twenty-first, the concept of public religion continues to occupy popular imagination. Through the lens of public religion, we are able to examine pressing issues such as the revitalization of, or disillusionment toward, institutional forms and political establishments in our questionably secular age. What happens when religion “goes public”? Correspondingly, what assumptions about the category of religion and its role in public places do discussions of public religion promote?  Over the course of the semester, we will investigate the possibilities, pitfalls, and practicalities of understanding religion in terms of public life.  

The coursework will draw from scholarship, policy documents, and real-world case studies on issues ranging from climate crisis to conspiracy. Focusing on examples of advocacy, considerations of democratic renewal and decline, and competing claims of power and authority, this seminar considers the ways in which our definitions of religion impact lived, embodied, and practiced forms of religion and secularism in our current moment.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Justine E Ellis
  Info
• 4 points