REL 373.001
Religion, Social Boundaries and Identities in South Asia

Posing as a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu, these Sindhi Hindus are celebrating religious harmony.

Professor
Dr. Steven Ramey
sramey@bama.ua.edu

Office: 202 Manly Hall
Office Phone: 348-4218
Office Hour: T/R 10:00-11:00
W 9:30-11:30
Course: M 2:00-4:40
Location: 210 Manly Hall

About Online Readings

Some course readings are placed in a "secure" folder; you can only access these PDF files (Portable Document Format, that can be opened with the free Adobe Reader) by clicking each link and then entering your Bama User Name and Password. If you have difficulty accessing these readings, contact the instructor by email.

If you have forgotten your Bama ID, but know your Campus Wide ID (CWID), then go here.

Description

How do religious traditions seem to espouse human unity and harmony on the one hand and division and violence on the other? This course will investigate questions such as this by analyzing critically the various ways people identify themselves and separate groups from each other. While these divisions involve many elements, such as nationality, ethnic/linguistic identity, gender, and class, aspects of human experience commonly identified as religious frequently intersect with these divisions. Through a series of case studies focusing on South Asia, we will investigate how communities construct these boundaries, both legally, and informally, how these boundaries have changed over the past several centuries, and how minority communities contest the dominant forms of these boundaries. Through this study, we will theorize about the relation of religions to various aspects of human experience and the accuracy of different representations of these relationships in both society and scholarship.

Syllabus

Fall 2006 Syllabus (PDF)

December 1 Writing Assignment (PDF)

18 September Presentations

Student Presentation Schedule

Books (required)

Bose, Shonali.
Amu: A Novel
Penguin Books India
ISBN 0143032321

Flueckiger, Joyce.
In Amma's Healing Room: Gender and Venacular Islam in South India
Indiana University Press
ISBN 0253218373

Ilaiah, K.
Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva, Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy
Bhatkal Books Int'l
ISBN 8185604185

Nandy, Ashis.
Exiled at Home: Comprising At the Edge of Psychology, The Intimate Enemy and Creating a Nationality
Oxford Press
ISBN 0195667921

Online Readings

Carl Ernst, "Sufism"

D.N. Jha, "The Myth of the Holy Cow"

Axel Michaels, "The King and the Cow"

David N. Lorenzen, "Who Invented Hinduism?" (low resolution version - PDF)

David N. Lorenzen, "Who Invented Hinduism?" (high resolution version - PDF)

Kenneth Jones, "Religious Identity and the Indian Census" (PDF)

W. H. McLeod, "The Contributions of the Singh Sabha Movement" (PDF)

W. H. McLeod, "The Khalsa Rahit" (PDF)

Ramey, Hindu, Sufi or Sikh,
"Introduction" (PDF)
"Chapter 2" (PDF)
"Chapter 6" (PDF)
"Conclusion" (PDF)
"Bibliography" (PDF)