R630 Children and Religion (3 Cr.)- Orsi T 7:00-9:00PM BH 235

Children have been largely absent from the study of religion.  Using case
studies drawn primarily from American religious culture, past and present,
this seminar examines the ways that children live in, through, and against
the religious idioms offered them by their cultures.  One of the main
goals of this seminar is to clarify some of the theoretical issues and
problems raised by children's religious practice, and in turn to consider
the implications of these questions for the anthropological, historical,
and comparative study of culture and religion generally.  Specific topics
to include relations between adults and children in the spaces and times
of religion, occasions of great cultural anxiety for children's moral and
spiritual well-being, religiously motivated violence against children, as
well as, most importantly, children's religious improvisations,
transgressions, subversions, and submissions.  Case studies will include
several of the following: Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Christian Science,
Jehovah's Witness, and Nation of Islam childhoods.  Meets with R713.