The aim of the course is twofold. It introduces students to the
growing body of literature on "religion and media" that explores the
ways religious movements articulate with, and contribute to, on-
going transformations in state-society relationships in postcolonial
contexts. Secondly, the course acquaints students with selected
classical anthropological scholarship on religion and ritual, as
well as with recent studies on the anthropology of media and media
consumption. A third set of readings will help address conceptual
and methodological questions related to the possibilities and
constraints inherent in ethnographic studies of people's engagements
with media. Readings include foundational texts of media reception
theory and critical theory, as well as an array of ethnographic
studies of religiously inspired movements in South Asia, Sub-Saharan
Africa, and the Middle East.