Vernon Schubel

This course is designed to introduce students to the study of Asia and the Middle East within the context of the global humanities. It serves as a sampler, which will expose students to the rich diversity of Asian and Islamicate humanities. The seminar will explore a wide range of primary sources from different places and historical periods. These may include such diverse materials as the memoirs of the medieval Mulim traveler Ibn Battuta, "The Analects of Confucius," readings from the "Vedas" and "Upanishads," Farid ud din Attar's "The Conference of the Birds," Kurosawa's "Rashomon," Rabindranath Tagore's "The Home and The World," short fiction from the modern Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani and examples of contemporary Chinese science fiction. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Only open to first-year students.

Muslims have been an integral part of South Asian and Indian history for more than a millennium. While Islam may have first come to the region as the religion of immigrants and converts, the Muslims of contemporary South Asia are now overwhelmingly their native-born descendants. Islam has so successfully settled into South Asia that the Muslims of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh collectively account for approximately one-third of the world’s Muslims. South Asia’s Muslims and “Hindus” have seldom lived in isolation from each other. There has been continuous cultural interaction between them. This seminar examines interactions between “Hindus” and Muslims by reading a series of recent scholarly monographs on the topic. Questions to be addressed include: How did Muslim rulers and the scholars in their courts deal with the question of “Hinduism?” How did Sufis and Yogis understand each other’s religious beliefs and practices? How did Muslim historians write the history of Hindustan? Conversely, how did “Hindu” historians write the history of the Muslim presence in South Asia? Is the culture of pilgrimage to Sufi shrines truly Islamic? Is contemporary “Hindu” nationalism “othering” the culture of South Asian Islam? There is no specific requirement for this class, but students should have some background in the study of Islam, or Islamicate or South Asian history. This course is an intensive seminar and counts toward the upper-level seminar requirement for the Islamic civilization and cultures concentration.

This capstone seminar is taught by Asian Studies Program faculty in rotation and is organized around a common theme that integrates the various disciplines and regions of Asia. Through readings, films, guest lectures and other activities, the course will lead students to synthesize their academic and personal (e.g., off-campus) experiences in a broader comparative perspective. Students will produce work that examines one or more topics of their own interest within the comparative Asian framework. Required for Asian studies concentrators and joint majors. Permission of instructor required. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. No prerequisite. Offered every spring.

This course includes brief introductions to four or five major religious traditions, while exploring concepts and categories used in the study of religion, such as sacredness, myth, ritual, religious experience and social dimensions of religion. Traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Native American traditions may be presented through important texts and practices. This counts toward the 100-level introduction to religious studies course requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every semester.

This course covers the same material as RLST 101 and is open only to first-year students, giving first-years the opportunity to experience the rigorous and intimate seminar setting as they work through the topics and themes of the Religious Studies department's introductory course. This counts toward the 100-level introduction to religious studies course requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every two years.

This course serves as an introduction to the religion of Islam, a diverse tradition that includes more than a billion adherents and is a dominant cultural element in a geographical region that stretches from Morocco to Indonesia. This course focuses primarily on the development of Islam and Islamic institutions from the time the Prophet Muhammad through the emergence of the Sufi tradition as a primary expression of Muslim piety in the late medieval period. Special attention will be given to the rise and development of Sunni, Shi'i and Sufi pieties as distinctive responses to the event of the Qur'anic revelation throughout the history of Islam. This is an an introductory Islam tradition course. No prerequisite. Offered every fall.

This course serves as an introduction to the religion of Islam, a diverse tradition that includes more than a billion adherents and is a dominant cultural element in a geographical region that stretches from Morocco to Indonesia. This course focuses primarily on the development of Islam and Islamic institutions from the time the Prophet Muhammad through the emergence of the Sufi tradition as a primary expression of Muslim piety in the late medieval period. Special attention will be given to the rise and development of Sunni, Shi'i and Sufi pieties as distinctive responses to the event of the Qur'anic revelation throughout the history of Islam. This counts toward the introductory Islam tradition course requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every fall.

The South Asian subcontinent has been the home of a fascinating array of religions and religious movements. Focusing on Hinduism, this course will examine the development of religious practice in South Asia and the interaction of competing religious ideas over time. The course will include discussions of Indus Valley religion, Vedic Brahmanism, Jainism and Buddhism, the Upanishads, classical Hinduism, Bhakti, South Asian Islam and modern Hinduism. This counts toward the introductory South Asian religions course requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

This course will explore some of the crucial issues and debates in the contemporary Muslim world. Issues to be examined will include the compatibility of Islam with democracy, the connections between Islam and political violence, the role of Wahhabism and Salafis in the construction of contemporary Islamic movements, feminist movements within Islam, LGBTQ issues in the Islamic world, Islam and pluralism and Sufism in the contemporary context. The course will focus on primary sources, including writings by a diverse array of modern and contemporary Muslim authors like Khaled Abou el Fadl, Amina Wadud, Usama bin Laden and Cemalnur Sargut. This is an intensive seminar course which fulfills the advanced seminar requirement for the Islamic Civilization and Cultures concentration and is especially suitable for upper class students in AMES and International Studies wishing deeper insight into the Islamicate world. Some background in the study of Islam or Islamicate history is recommended. No prerequisite.

This course will examine some of the important ideas, personalities and institutions associated with Islamic mysticism. Students will read and discuss important primary and secondary sources on such topics as the development and organizations of Sufi tariqahs, mystical poetry, the nature of the Sufi path and Sufi psychology. A crucial aspect of the course will be an examination of the role of the veneration of "holy persons'' in Islamic piety. This is an advanced Islam tradition course. No prerequisite. Offered every two years.

This course will examine some of the important ideas, personalities and institutions associated with Islamic mysticism. Students will read and discuss important primary and secondary sources on such topics as the development and organizations of Sufi tariqahs, mystical poetry, the nature of the Sufi path and Sufi psychology. A crucial aspect of the course will be an examination of the role of the veneration of "holy persons" in Islamic piety. This counts toward an advanced Islam tradition course requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every two years.

This course will examine Islam in contemporary North America and Canada. It will explore such topics as the religious diversity of the Muslim community, the relevance and practice of Islamic law in a secular society, the problem of Islamophobia, and issues of race, ethnicity and gender among North American Muslims. This counts as an advanced Islam tradition course requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

This course acquaints students with major theoretical approaches to the academic study of religion. The course will cover phenomenological, psychoanalytical, sociological and anthropological approaches to religion. Authors to be discussed will include Frazer, Marx, Freud, Weber, Durkheim, Eliade, Lévi-Strauss, Douglas, Geertz, Turner and Orsi. This is a theory course. This course also fulfills the methods requirement for International Studies. No prerequisite.

This course will explore some of the crucial issues and debates in the contemporary Muslim world. Issues to be examined will include the compatibility of Islam with democracy, the connections between Islam and terrorism, the role of Wahhabism in the construction of contemporary Islamic movements, feminist movements within Islam, Islam and pluralism and Sufism in the contemporary context. The course will focus on primary sources, including writing by Khaled Abou el Fadl, Amina Wadud and Osama bin Laden. This counts as an elective for the major. Prerequisite: RLST 240 or HIST 166 or 264 or permission of instructor. Offered every two years.

The department reserves individual studies to highly motivated students who are judged responsible and capable enough to work independently. Such courses might entail original research, but usually they are reading-oriented, allowing students to explore in depth topics that interest them or that supplement aspects of the major. Students may pursue individual study only if they have taken all the courses offered by the department in that particular area of the curriculum. An individual study course cannot duplicate a course or topic being concurrently offered. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the instructor and department chair. Students must secure the agreement of an instructor to provide guidance and supervision of the course. The instructor and student agree on the nature of the work expected (e.g., several short papers, one long paper, an in-depth project, a public presentation, a lengthy general outline and annotated bibliography). The level should be advanced, with work on a par with a 300 level course. The student and instructor should meet on a regular basis, with the schedule to be determined by the instructor in consultation with the student. Individual studies may be taken for 0.25 or 0.5 units, at the discretion of the instructor. A maximum of 0.50 units of IS may count towards major or minor requirements in RLST department. A student is permitted to take only one 0.5-unit class of IS in the department (one 0.5-unit course or two 0.25-unit courses). A student must present a petition with compelling reasons in order to obtain special permission to take an additional IS course. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the established deadline. Prerequisite: GPA of at least 3.0. Exceptions (e.g., languages not taught at Kenyon are granted at the discretion of the instructor, with the approval of the department chair.)\n