Seminar Overview and Evaluation Requirements
Title: Festivals, Religion, Culture and Subcultures
Instructor: Dr Graham St John
Outline:
As sites of meaning making and cultural performance, anthropologists have long considered festivals to be windows on culture and religion. With a focus on contemporary events, this seminar explores the alternative “worlds” of festivals, their cultures and subcultures. We will investigate a spectrum of events, from Carnival to Burning Man and other “transformational” festivals, to the Kumbh Mela and other religious pilgrimages like the Olympic Games, to electronic dance music events like Portugal’s Boom Festival and LA’s Electric Daisy Carnival. Focusing on the festivalised character of cultural movements around the globe, the seminar will investigate how diverse cultural events and event cultures are studied via a spectrum of methods and interpreted in accordance with social and cultural theory. We will discover the significance of events for various sacred and secular pursuits, for the performance of identity, for building community, and for reinforcing or challenging power. By the end of this course you will be able to identify, apply, and critique theoretical concepts on festivals.
This seminar is 100% English. Students must possess
good English comprehension (reading, written, spoken).
Day and Time: Tuesday 13:15-14:45
Room PER21 E230
First seminar: Feb 20
Last seminar: May 29
No seminar: April 3
Evaluation Requirements (3 credit points)
25% = Participation. This grade is based on attendance and seminar participation. Students must read materials that will be available on Moodle each week (make sure you sign up to the seminar on Moodle), and respond to the associated questions circulated. Be prepared to discuss your answers in class.
75% = Assignment (with spoken and written components). Each student will give a presentation in the seminar (in English). At the same time, a written version of the presentation (in English) is to be submitted. The spoken and written components of this assignment will be evaluated together. More details about the requirements will be provided in Weeks 2 & 3.
Optional Term Paper. More details to follow.
- Enseignant·e: François Gauthier