spring 2019
REL-3024 Indigenous religion(s): Local grounds, global Network - 10 ECTS

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Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for the autumn semester and 1 December for the spring semester.

Exchange students and Fulbright students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester.

Type of course

The course is optional for master students in Religious Studies. It is also suited for master students who work on issues related to indigenous peoples and/or religions in other disciplines within the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The course can be taken as a singular course.

Admission requirements

A Bachelor's degree in a subject within the Social Sciences or Humanities is required as a general rule.

The course requires solid competence in reading and writing English.

Application code 9371 Singular course Master's level.

Course content

Indigenous religions are constituted, practiced and understood in very different ways in very different local contexts around the world. At the same time, they are often tied together in globalizing discourses and networks, and thus they influence each other in complex ways. This course studies indigenous religion(s) in and between local and global levels. Their entanglements in legal and rights issues, environmentalism and climate concerns, politics and activism, art and education, languages and rituals, identity formations and nation building, media and tourism, territoriality and kinship, but also globality and cosmopolitanism, as well as their roles in colonial, neo-colonial and post-colonial histories are among the issues addressed. Methodologically and theoretically the focus is on articulation, translation, performance, mediatization, sovereignty and comparison. The course builds on the challenges and findings from the international research project "Indigenous Religion(s): Local Grounds, Global Networks" (INREL).

Objectives of the course

By the end of the course the student has obtained the following:

Knowledge

The student has knowledge about:

  • contemporary discourses and practices of indigenous religion(s) on both local and global levels
  • critical concepts, questions, methodologies, and theories in the study of indigenous religions
  • the history of the study of indigenous religions

Skills

The student is able to / can:

  • describe different cases and contexts of indigenous religion(s) in academically and ethically responsible ways
  • analyze different cases and contexts of indigenous religion(s) in academically and ethically responsible ways
  • write a text about indigenous religion(s) and relevant issues in accordance with established academic norms of the field

Competence

The student is competent to:

  • plan and execute assignments related to studies of indigenous religion(s)
  • communicate and discuss academic questions related to indigenous religion(s)

Language of instruction and examination

English

Teaching methods

The teaching is done in lectures and seminars, for a total of 20 hours (10 x 2 hours). Active participation in the lectures and seminars is required.

Quality control of the course

The course will be evaluated once during the period of the study program. The board of the program decides which courses will be evaluated by students and teacher each year.

Assessment

The following coursework requirements must be completed and approved in order to take the final exam: Compulsory student presentation at seminars. Coursework requirements will be evaluated as Approved/not-approved.

The exam will consist of: An essay (10 pages of approximately 3500 words) on a given topic. Allotted time: 7 days.

The exam will be assessed on an A-F grades scale. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed.

Retake is offered in the beginning of the following semester in cases of grade F or Fail. Deferred examination is offered in the beginning of the following semester if the student is unable to take the final exam due to illness or other exceptional circumstances. Registration deadline for retake is January 15 for autumn semester exams and August 15 for spring semester exams.

Recommended reading/syllabus

Pensumliste for REL-3024 Indigenous religion(s): Local grounds, global Networks

Recommended reading/syllabus

Clifford, James. 2013. Returns: Becoming Indigenous in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (366 pp.) 

Johnson, Greg & Siv Ellen Kraft (eds.). 2017. Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion 15). Leiden: Brill. (408 pp.) Available as e-book through the university library. 

Johnson, Greg. 2008. "Authenticity, Invention, Articulation: Theorizing Contemporary Hawaiian Traditions from the Outside." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 20 (3): 243-258. Available in e-journal through the university library. 

Tafjord, Bjørn Ola. 2013. "Indigenous Religion(s) as an Analytical Category." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 25 (3): 221-243. Available in e-journal through the university library. 

Tafjord, Bjørn Ola. 2016. "How Talking about Indigenous Religion May Change Things: An Example from Talamanca." Numen 63 (5-6): 548-575. Available in e-journal through the university library. 

Tafjord, Bjørn Ola. 2017. "Scales, Translations, and Siding Effects: Uses of indígena and religión in Talamanca and Beyond." Religious Categories and the Construction of the Indigenous (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 7), ed. by C. Hartney & D. Tower, pp. 138-177. Leiden: Brill. Available in e-journal through the university library.

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  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 10
  • Course code: REL-3024