98755 - Anthropology of Religions (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students have an advanced understanding of the relevance of a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of Anthropology of Religion. They are able to analyze religious phenomena seen through the lens of multiple tools from several disciplines (mostly in the field of Anthropology) and are able to conduct field research by applying techniques of collection, interpretative analysis and processing of empirical data, as well as communicate the results obtained. They focus on the socio-political implications of interaction among groups in complex societies and they critically promotes the value of religious differences and religious pluralism. They are able to revise and update their knowledge and develop independent analytical perspectives, taking into account scientific and international debate relating to cultural and religious practices and changes in complex societies.

Course contents

"The counterfeit money of its dream": Pierre Bourdieu on religion

The course aims to introduce the students to one of the most sophisticated, intricate, and powerful models for analyzing, explaining, and critiquing the phenomenon of religion that was developed in the late twentieth century. By intersecting anthropology, sociology, and the science of religion, while also venturing into art history and literature, the essays on religion by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) span a long period (1958-1994). They are not very numerous and have never been reunited into a monograph explicitly dedicated to the subject. These scattered writings, sometimes more theoretical and sometimes more ethnographic in nature, have a clear gravitational center in the model of the “field,” conceived precisely from the study of religion. Spanning from colonial Algeria to the French province, from the exegesis of Molière to close readings of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, and the analysis of Renaissance frescoes and sculptures in Santa Maria Novella, Bourdieu's rigorously materialist perspective examines religion without confessional biases or Enlightenment prejudices. The result is a powerful gnoseological machine whose fundamental conceptual mechanisms (from Sartre's notion of "bad faith" to the triad of "field-interest-capital" and the concept of "sociodicy" and “dissolution of the religious field”) will be analyzed critically and in-depth.

Readings/Bibliography

xam bibliography:

For attending students:

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

1) P. Bourdieu, "Genesis and Structure of the Religious Field", Comparative Social Research 13 (1991): 1-43.

2) P. Bourdieu, “The Laughter of Bishops", in P. Bourdieu, Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action" (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 112-123

3) P. Bourdieu, “Pietà religiosa e devozione artistica. Fedeli e amatori d’arte a Santa Maria Novella”, in P. Bourdieu, Il mercato dei beni simbolici e altri scritti sull’arte, Milano, Meltemi, 2023, pp. 181-196.

4) P. Bourdieu, “La dissoluzione del campo religioso,” in P. Bourdieu, Cose dette. Verso una sociologia riflessiva, Napoli, Orthotes, 2013, pp. 133-138.

5) R. Alciati, “If Theodicy Is Always Sociodicy: Bourdieu and the Marxian Critique of Religion,” in G. Paolucci (a cura di), Bourdieu and Marx: Practices of Critique, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, pp. 313-324.

 

For non-attending students:

Non-attending students are required to supplement the above bibliography (from 1 to 5) with a text of their choice from the following list:

1) T. Rey, Bourdieu on Religion: Imposing Faith and Legitimacy, London, Routledge, 2014.

2) G. Paolucci, Introduzione a Bourdieu, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011.

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.

During the a.a. 2024-2025, exam sessions are scheduled in the following months:1) January; 2) February; 3) April; 4) May; 5) June; 6) September

Teaching tools

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

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

Office hours

See the website of Emiliano Urciuoli