Hoenes del Pinal, Eric (NYU) â Language and Religion
Language and Religion V14.0801 (V90.0130);
Fall 2009 1 Mon/Wed 9:30 â 10:45 a.m.
Silver Hall, Room 512
Dr. Eric Hoenes del Pinal
OH: Tuesday 1 – 3 p.m., by appointment
Rufus D. Smith Hall, Room 710
ehd1@nyu.edu
Course Description:
This course brings together anthropologistsâ long standing interests in the nature of religion across cultures and in the interrelationship between language and culture. Through close readings of several case studies we will ask what role language plays in constituting peopleâs religious experiences, and how these in turn can be said to shape peopleâs communicative practices. By attending closely to specific communitiesâ uses of spoken and written language, as well as to their discourses about the nature of language, we hope to gain greater insight into how religion functions to organize peopleâs social worlds and give meaning to their lives. Among other topics, we will be examining: the nature of ritual language; charisma and the institutionalization of religious authority;the transformative power of language; the relationship between the material objects, sound and the supernatural; and the uses of sacred texts.
Course requirements:
My goal for this class is to provide you with a forum in which to have interesting and lively discussions about the topics that we will be covering, but we will only be able to do that if everyone comes to class prepared. Thus, I ask that you do the readings before you come to class. To facilitate discussion, each student will complete a short commentary or set of questions (about Âœ to 1 page, typed) about the day’s readings once per week. It is entirely up to you if you want to prepare your comments for Monday or Wednesday, but you must turn one in each week from Week 2-14. Please come prepared to share your comments and questions with the class. If you find that you are having trouble understanding the readings or otherwise falling behind in the class, please come see me during our office hours as soon as possible. I also ask that you be respectful of other students during our discussions.
I expect you to attend classes regularly and be on time. I know that sometimes absences are unavoidable, but I ask that you try to be here for every class and to please let me know if you will be absent. Youâll also need to make the necessary arrangements to make up the class work. Attendance and participation will factor into your final grade.
In addition to two papers meant to test your understanding of the readings (due October 12, and November 23), throughout the semester you will be working on a small ethnographic project about a religious group in NYC. This exercise is meant to give you a taste of what ethnographic fieldwork is like as well as bring to life the course material. You are free to choose any religious group so long as it is not one with which you presently identify (or have recently indentified with). Preferably students will work in teams of two, but other arrangements may be made if you can justify them to me. You will be expected to attend the religious functions of your chosen group as a participant observer on a fairly regular basis and to write two short field reports (due October 28 and December 2) along the way and a final paper about your experience and findings (due December 12). Although youâll be working in teams, all written work must be your own. More details on written assignments will be given as we progress through the course.
I will be scheduling a few film screenings throughout the semester. Dates and times are TBD. If you cannot attend the screenings you may watch the films on your own at the library. Films should be treated as required texts.
Assignments:
| Attendance and participation | 10% |
| Weekly discussion questions/comments(x13, <1 page each) | 10% |
| Papers (x2, approx. 5-6 pages each) | 30% |
| Field project reports (x2, approx. 3 pages each) | 20% |
| Final paper based on field project | 30% |
Texts:
Bauman, Richard. Let Your Words Be Few: Symbolism of Speaking and Silence among Seventeenth-century Quakers. Tucson: Wheatmark, 2008. (Originally published 1983 by Cambridge University Press, any edition is fine)
Bielo, James. Words upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. New York: New York University Press, 2008.
Engelke, Matthew. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Church. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. (Also available as an eBook via BobCat.)
Fader, Ayala. Mitzvah Girls: Bringing up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.
The books above have been ordered at the NYU bookstore and will also be available at the Bobst Library Reserves. All other articles and book excerpts will be available on-line via BlackBoard. Note: Book excerpts have been uploaded as PDFs and can be downloaded very easily. However, to access journal articles from off-campus, you will need to use a proxy. Information can be found here: http://library.nyu.edu/help/proxy.html. Readings listed as âRecommendedâ are not required, but I have included them because I think they will enhance your understanding of other materials. Please take a look at them as your schedule allows, even if you just skim them. I may add other recommended readings as we progress through the course.
Week 1
9/9/09 Foundations : The Anthropological Study of Religion
Recommended: Lambek, Michael. âGeneral Introductionâ A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion, M. Lambek, ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Pp 1-16. 2002
Geertz, Clifford âReligion as a Cultural Systemâ The Interpretation of Culture (Selection reprinted in Lambek 2002)
Week 2
9/14/09 Foundations for Studying Language and Religion
Samarin, William. âThe Language of Religionâ Language in Religious Practice. W. Samarin, ed. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers. Pp. 3-13. 1976.
Bauman, Richard. Let Your Words Be Few. Ch1-4. (Pp. 1-62)
Highly Recommended: Bielo, James. Words Upon the Word. Pp. 21-33
9/16/09
Bauman, Richard. Let Your Words Be Few Ch 5-8 (Pp. 63-136)
Recommended: Bauman Let Your Words Be Few Ch 9
Week 3
9/21/09 Languages and Religions
Watson-Gegeo, Karen Ann and David Welchamn Gegeo âThe Impact of Church Affiliation on Language Use in Kwaraâae (Solomon Islands)â Language in Society 20: 533-555. 1991.
McAlister, Elizabeth. âThe Madonna of 115th Street Revisited: Vodou and Haitian Catholicism in the Age of Transnationalismâ Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration. R. S. Warner, ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Pp 123-160. 1998.
McIntosh, Janet âBaptismal Essentialismsâ Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 15(2): 151-170. 2005.
9/23/09
Wirtz, Kristina. âWhere obscurity is a virtueâ: The mystique of unintelligibility in SanterĂa ritualâ Language & Communication. 25(4): 351-375. 2005.
Malinowski, Bronsilaw. âThe Magical Wordâ Coral Gardens and Their Magic Vol II. Pp 213-231. 1935.
Samarin, William. âVariation and Variability in Religious Glossolaliaâ Language in Society. 1(1): 121-130. 1972.
Film: Jesus Camp
Week 4
9/28/09 Language and Religion through a Lifecycle
Fader, Ayala. Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Pp 1-86
9/30/09
Fader, Ayala. Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Pp 87-178.
Recommended: Fader. Mitzvah Girls Pp. 179-219
Week 5
10/5/09 Socialization and Ritual Participation
Capps, Lisa & Ochs, Elinor. “Cultivating Prayer” The Language of Turn and Sequence C Ford, B Fox & S Thompson, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp 39-55. 2002
Moore, Lorena C. âBody, Text, and Talk in Maroua Fulbe Qur’anic schoolingâ Text & Talk. 28(5), 643-665. 2008
10/7/09
Wharry, Cheryl. âAmen and Hallelujah Preaching: Discourse Functions in AfricanAmerica Sermons.â Language in Society. 32(2): 203-225. 2003.
Keeler, Ward âStyle and Authority in Javanese Muslim Sermonsâ The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 9(2): 163-178. 1998.
Week 6
10/12/09 First paper due.
Ritual Language: Tradition and Creativity
Wheelock, Wade T. âThe Problem of Ritual Language: From Information to Situationâ Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 50(1): 49-71. 1982.
Recommended: Hanks, William F. âJoint Commitment and Common Ground in a Ritual Eventâ Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction. N J Enfield & S Lenvinson, eds. New York: Berg Press. Pp. 299-328. 2006.
10/14/09
Csordas, Thomas J. âGenre, Motive, and Metaphor: Conditions for Creativity in Ritual Languageâ Cultural Anthropology. 2(4): 445-469. 1987.
Keane, Webb. âFrom Fetishism to Sincerity: Agency, the Speaking Subject, and their Historicity in the Context of Religious Conversion. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 39(4): 674-693. 1997.
Shoaps, Robin. ââPray Earnestlyâ: The Textual Construction of Personal Involvement in Pentecostal Prayer and Songâ Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 12(1): 34-71. 2002.
Week 7
10/19/09 Why Does it Work? Authority and Evidentiality
Du Bois, John W. âSelf-Evidence and Ritual Speech.â Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology. W. Chafe and J. Nichols, eds. Pp. 313-336. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. 1986.
Hoenes del Pinal, Eric. 2009. âHow Qâeqchiâ-Maya Catholics Become Legitimate Interpreters of the Bible: Two Models of Religious Authority in Sermonsâ The Social Life of Scriptures. J Bielo, ed. Newark: Rutgers University Press. 2009.
Szuchewycz, Brian. 1994. âEvidentiality in Ritual Discourse: The Social Construction of Religious Meaningâ Language in Society 23: 389-410. 1994.
Recommended: Asad, Talal. âThe Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Categoryâ Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1992.
10/21/09 Language and the Transformation of the Subject
Harding, Susan F. âConvicted by the Holy Spirit: The Rhetoric of Fundamental Baptist Conversionâ American Ethnologist. 14(1): 167-181. 1987.
Stromberg, Peter. G. âIdeological Language in the Transformation of Identityâ American Anthropologist. 92(1): 42-56. 1990.
Week 8
10/26/09
Hanks, William. âDialogic Conversions and the Field of Missionary Discourse in Colonial Yucatan.â In Les Rituels du Dialogue. A. Monod Becquelin and P. Erikson, eds. Nanterre: Societe d’Ethnologie. Pp. 235-254. 2000.
Robbins, Joel âGod is Nothing But Talk: Modernity, Language and Prayer in a Papua New Guinea Society.â American Anthropologist 103(4): 901-912. 2001.
10/28/09 First field report due.
Confession
Robbins, Joel. âOn Not Knowing Other Minds: Confession, intention, and Linguistic exchange in a Papua New Guineas Communityâ Anthropological Quarterly 81(2): 421-429. 2008.
Rumsey, Alan. âConfession, Anger and Cross-Cultural Articulation in Papua New Guineaâ Anthropological Quarterly 81(2)): 455-472. 2008.
Recommended: Robbins, Joel & Alan Rumsey. âIntroduction: Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology and the Opacity of Other Mindsâ Anthropological Quarterly 81(2): 407-419. 2008.
Week 9
11/2/09 Reading and Writing in Religion
Bielo, James. Words upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. Pp 1-92
11/4/09
Bielo, James. Words upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. Pp 93-168
Lehtinen, Esa. âConversation Analysis and Religion: Practices of Talking about Bible Texts in Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Studyâ Religion 39(3): 233-247. 2009.
Week 10 11/09/09
Cannell, Fanella. âReading as Gift and Writing as Theftâ Anthropology of Christianity. F Cannell, ed. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp 134-162. 2006.
Shoaps, Robin. âRitual and (Im)Moral Voices: Locating the Testament of Judas in Sakapultek communicative ecologyâ American Ethnologist 36(3): 459-477. 2009.
Recommended: Besnier, Niko. âBetween Literacy and Orality: The Sermonâ Literacy, Emotion and Authority: Reading and Writing on a Polynesia Atoll. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 116-139. 1995.
11/11/09 Translation and the Missionary Encounter
Rafael, Vicente. Contracting Colonialism: Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society Under Early Spanish Rule. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp xviixx, 1-22. 1993.
Handman, Courtney. âSpeaking to the Soul: On Native Language and Authenticity in Papua New Guinea Bible Translationâ Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies. M Makihara & B Schieffelin, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 166-188. 2007.
Recommended: Rafael. Contracting Colonialism. Pp. 84-109
Week 11
11/16/09
Schieffelin, Bambi. âFound in Translating: Reflexive Language Across Time and Texts in Bosavi, Papua New Guineaâ Consequences of Contact: Language Ideologies and Sociocultural Transformations in Pacific Societies. M Makihara & B Schieffelin, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 125-139. 2007.
Schieffelin, Bambi. âMarking Time: The Dichotomizing Discourse of Multiple Temporalitiesâ Current Anthropology 43: S5-S17. 2002.
11/18/09 Hearing Religion
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment. (Selections) Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2000. Ch. 2 (Sound Christians, pp 38-77) Ch5 (Voices from Spirit Land +Epilogue, pp 199-251)
11/23/09 Second paper due.
Film: The Tailenders.
Also browse http://globalrecordings.net
http://www.inspirationalfilms.com/av/watch.html
11/25/09 No Class
Week 13
11/30/09
Hirschkind, Charles. âThe Ethics of Listening: Cassette Sermon Audition in Contemporary Egyptâ American Ethnologist 28(3): 623-649. 2001.
Maltz, Daniel. âJoyful Noise and Reverent Silence: The Significance of Noise in Pentecostal Worshipâ Perspectives on Silence, D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike, eds. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing. Pp 113-137. 1985.
12/02/09 Second field report due.
An Immaterial Bible
Engelke, Matthew. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in and African Church Introduction, Ch1-3 (Pp 1-137)
Week 14
12/07/09
Engelke, Matthew. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in and African Church Ch 4-6, Conclusion (Pp 138-223, 244-252)
12/09/09
Words and Things
Engelke, Matthew. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in and African Church Ch 7 (Pp. 224-244)
Gossen, Gary. âLanguage as Ritual Substanceâ Language in Religious Practice. W. Samarin, ed. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers. Pp 42-60. 1976.
Recommended: Coleman, Simon. âWords as Things: Language, Aesthetics and the Objectification of Protestant Evangelicalismâ Journal of Material Culture 1(1): 107-128. 1996.
Week 15
12/14/09 Wrap-up/Conclusions
Round-table discussion of field projects.
Final field project paper due by Thursday 12/17/09 at noon
