Topics in Religious Studies: Religion, Clothing, and Bodily Adornment

Scholars of religion, as of late, have turned away from texts and towards material culture as a way to attend to belief. Even so, in their attempts to study religion through "things," scholars privilege attending to sanctuaries, icons, and formal ritual objects. To correct this tendency, this course asks: what do we learn about religion if we focus our analytical gaze on how people dress? By asking this question, this course aims to expand the range of "things" through which we can study religion. In examining various historical and ethnographic case studies, this course will introduce students to how religious practitioners have powerfully deployed different forms of dress - veils, priestly garments, kippahs, wedding dresses, Catholic school uniforms - to (co)produce religious, gender, racial, and ethnic identities. How has closing assisted religious practitioners with establishing what it means to be a Black Catholic, Orthodox Christian woman, Asiatic Muslim, or Ethiopic Hebrew?
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Eth; BU IS; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM; UC CD

Topics in Religious Studies: Religion, Clothing, and Bodily Adornment

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 3801

Section 01

Section 21