Cultural Heritage of the Religious Minorities

Dozent/in:

Eszter Spät

Angaben:

Seminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 5, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität, Kultur und Bildung, Zentrum für Interreligiöse Studien, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Mi, 18:15 - 19:45, SP17/00.13

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Dieses Modul ist anrechenbar im Elite-MA CSME Modul TM1, Modulprüfung: Portfolio

Inhalt:

This class introduces students to the cultural-religious heritage of the Middle East and acquaint them with the different factors which impact, transform or threaten various facets of this heritage. Its primary focus will be the religious minorities of the region, different Christian denominations, Mandaeans and Zoroastrians, as well as groups whose exact position vis-à-vis Islam is a matter of debate both by their adherents and/or outsiders. These religious minorities and their traditions are today threatened by the spread of radical Islamist movements and the resulting out-migration. Their religious and cultural heritage is also being increasingly affected by the socio-cultural changes which have transformed Middle Eastern society in the past few decades: modernization, urbanization, the impact of nationalist ideologies, the emergence of transnational diasporas, and in the case of previously oral religious traditions, the process of scripturalization. The course will look at how local actors are trying to modernize, “purify” and preserve their religious heritage, or how, in some cases, they attempt to re-create previously lost or discarded religious traditions and knowledge, all with the aim of securing their survival under the new social and political circumstances. The question of how religious heritage is being utilized by political players for the creation of ethnic and national identities, and how this political utilization in its turn impacts religious-cultural tradition and its perception, will also be addressed.

From Oral to Bookish: the Scripturalization of Yezidi Oral Tradition and Its Implications

Dozent/in:

Eszter Spät

Angaben:

Seminar, 5 SWS, ECTS: 5, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität, Zentrum für Interreligiöse Studien, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Do, 12:15 - 13:45, SP17/00.13

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Anrechenbar im Elite-MA CSME PRel2 (Modulprüfung: Referat oder Hausarbeit), PRel4 (Modulprüfung: mdl. Prüfung oder Portfolio)

Inhalt:

Until recently, the religious tradition of Yezidis, an ethno-religious minority, was based exclusively on oral tradition. The lack of written scriptures not only determined the nature of Yezidi religion, but also led to the social marginalization of the Yezidis in an environment where historically only “people of the Book” enjoyed legal acknowledgement. The course studies the introduction of school education in the recent decades and the impact of newly acquired general literacy on Yezidi religious institutions and oral tradition: the process of scripturalization, the creation of written body of texts and a “theology”, canonization and uniformization of texts and traditions, and concomitant transformation of traditional social institutions and traditional power hierarchy. We will also look at the various strategies Yezidis have used to “create” books, from “imagined” scriptures to various understandings of heavenly revelation.

Religious Crossover in the Middle East

Dozent/in:

Eszter Spät

Angaben:

Seminar, ECTS: 5, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Zentrum für Interreligiöse Studien

Termine:

Di, 18:15 - 19:45, SP17/00.13

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Anrechenbar im Elite-MA CSME, Modul PRel4

Inhalt:

This course will examine the phenomenon of religious crossover, that is the practice of the sacred places and religious experts of the religious “Other” in the MENA region. Monotheistic (Abrahamic) religions are widely perceived as mutually hostile toward other faiths, with impervious boundaries. In reality, despite rules of separation and purity, Muslims, Jews and Christians, as well as followers of religious groups perceived as “heretical” or “pagan,” have often visited, shared and sometimes contested one another’s the holy places. They also participated in the rituals or visited the religious experts of the “Other,” both for supernatural help and as a gesture of neighborly solidarity. Such religious crossovers have created complex social interactions and points of cultural contact between members of different communities and have contributed to the development of syncretism in the form of common ritual practices and shared believes about the supernatural.

Spirits Good and Bad: Jinn in Popular Culture, the Cinema and Cyberspace

Dozent/in:

Eszter Spät

Angaben:

Seminar, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Zentrum für Interreligiöse Studien

Termine:

Mo, 16:15 - 17:45, SP17/01.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Anrechenbar im Elite-MA CSME Modul PSpLit4, Modulprüfung: Portfolio

Inhalt:

For Europeans the notion of jinn conjures up images from Hollywood movies, with jinn escaping from bottles to serve the whims of their human masters. For people in the Middle East, jinn are not the stuff of fairy tales, but beings inhabiting a parallel world and interacting with the human one. Belief in the jinn and the threat they may pose for those who infringe social mores impacts everyday behavior. This course studies the perception of the jinn, from the Quran and prophetic tradition through medieval authors to contemporary popular beliefs (from fieldwork experience to cyberspace) to the depiction and use of the jinn in modern literary and cinematic works.