99918 - Religions of East Asia (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students acquire higher level knowledge on the texts and sources and religious thought of the cultures of East Asia. They critically know the socio-cultural matrix of the major religious traditions and history of at least one of the major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) and contemporary religions. They know the historical-critical methods and socio-anthropological contributions to analyze the texts and cultural products of the major religious traditions. They develop the ability to formulate valid judgments in the historical-religious fields. They are able to research and critically examine materials, bibliographic and documentary sources of different types, in order to conduct historical-religious investigations. They know the socio-political implications of interaction among groups in complex societies and apply research methodologies to address issues related to contexts characterized by cultural, linguistic, and religious pluralism. They can communicate the acquired knowledge in written and oral form, documenting accurately the information on which they base their conclusions and giving an account of the methodologies of investigation used and are able to give form to the results of their own research in the field of Religions of East Asia. They know how to collect, also thanks to the use of specific databases, a relevant bibliography to document and adequately deepen their own competences both in the field of research and in the working environment.

Course contents

The Orient in the Invention of World Religions

This course examines the relationship between orientalisms and constructions of religious taxonomies. It aims to critically reconstruct the epistemic journey that, within a century, led two 'Abrahamic nations' and some of the most flourishing 'paganisms' on the Asian continent into the numerically variable hit parade of so-called world religions. Either significantly reconfigured or constructed ex novo as religions, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism would emerge as the mobile categories of a new "epistemic regime" (Western, Christian, academic) at a time when "the protean notion of religion came to assume the kind of overwhelming sense of objective reality, concrete facticity, and absolute self-evidence that now holds us in its sway" (Masuzawa).

Readings/Bibliography

Exam bibliography for attending students:

in addition to the materials provided in class by the teacher, attending astudents are required to read:

1) E. Said, Orientalismo. L’immagine europea dell’Oriente, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1999 (o qualsiasi altra edizione/ristampa), only pp. 11-114.

2) R. King, Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India, and the ‘Mystic East’, London, Taylor & Francis, 1999, only pp. 96-160.

3) T. Masuzawa, The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2005, only pp. 37-71 e 107-206.

For non-attending students:

1) E. Said, Orientalismo. L’immagine europea dell’Oriente, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1999 (o qualsiasi altra edizione/ristampa), only pp. 11-114.

2) F. Squarcini, Ex Oriente Lux, Luxus, Luxuria. Storia e sociologia delle tradizioni religiose sudasiatiche in Occidente, Firenze, Società Editrice Fiorentina, 2007.

3) T. Masuzawa, The Invention of World Religions, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2005, only pp. 37-71 e 107-206.

4) A. Hughes, Abrahamic Religions. On the Uses and Abuses of History, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.

Teaching methods

Lectures; discussion of texts provided during the lectures; critical analysis of sources

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lectures are considered to be attending. The final exam is of an oral type and consists of a series of questions aimed at ascertaining the student's knowledge of the topics addressed in class (for attending students) and included in the program's texts. Elements contributing to the final evaluation include detailed knowledge of the content of the texts, correct use of specialized language and, above all, the ability to organize information into complex answers demonstrating critical and argumentative skills. During the course, teacher and students will consider the possibility for the students to give oral presentations on agreed topics, the evaluation of which will compose, together with the outcome of the oral examination, the final evaluation.

Teaching tools

Images, PowerPoint presentations, selections of texts uploaded by the teacher on Virtuale

Office hours

See the website of Emiliano Urciuoli