98755 - Anthropology of Religions (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students master an advanced awareness of the relevance of a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of European and non-European religions. They know how to analyse religious phenomena using the tools of several disciplines. They are able to conduct field research applying techniques of collection, interpretative analysis and processing of empirical data, and to communicate the results obtained. They pay attention to the socio-political implications of interaction between groups in complex societies; they critically promote the value of religious differences and religious pluralism; they are able to update their knowledge and develop autonomous analytical perspectives, taking into account the scientific and international debate concerning cultural and religious practices and the changes in complex societies.

Course contents

Urban Religion: theories, methods, problems

The course aims to introduce the students to the trans-historical and trans-cultural phenomenon of urban religion by providing them with analytical and conceptual tools to identify its main characteristics and most significant changes in different geographical, historical, and cultural contexts. At the center of a recent and lively debate in the social sciences, the concept of urban religion intersects two traditionally separate fields of study, history of religion and urban history, outlining a bi-millennial history of reciprocal interactions between forms and strategies of religious communication and urban spaces and forms of life. Beginning with the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia and culminating with contemporary global cities, passing through different phases and contexts of urbanization and de-urbanization, the course will span centuries and continents by focusing on some salient moments of this co-evolution and co-production of the religious and the urban. Preliminary and indispensable knowledge of theory, methodology, and history of religious and urban studies will be provided at the beginning of the course to enable adequate analytical understanding and contextualization of the only apparently intuitive concept of urban religion. By the end of the course, the students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to locate the phenomenon of urban religion in different historical, geographical, and cultural contexts.

Readings/Bibliography

Exam bibliography:

For attending students:

in addition to the materials provided in class by the teacher, attending students are required to read:
1) E.R. Urciuoli, La religione urbana. Come la città ha prodotto il cristianesimo. Bologna, EDB, 2021.
2) Introduction plus five chapters of one's own choice (agreed with the teacher) from:
R. Orsi (ed.), Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.


For non-attending students:
1) E.R. Urciuoli, La religione urbana. Come la città ha prodotto il cristianesimo. Bologna, EDB, 2021.
2) R. Orsi (ed.), Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 (only the introduction + chapters 1, 3, 5, 6).
3) One text among:
a) C. Nixey, Nel nome della croce. La distruzione cristiana del mondo classico. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 2018 (for those interested in antiquity)
b) G. Simmel, Le metropoli e la vita dello spirito, Roma, Armando Editore, 2013 (for those interested in classics of urban theory)
c) H. Cox, La città secolare. Firenze, Vallecchi, 1968 (for those interested in the secularization debate)

Teaching methods

Lectures; discussion of texts provided during the lectures

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