Students in Anthropology of Religion study cultural contexts, beginning with conceptualizing “religion” itself as the product of Christian, European, and colonial genealogies in order to understand this concept’s impact on the world. Key theoretical areas of study include modernity, liberalism, secularism, and the reorganization and regulation of religious, social, and political life, space and time, and individual and community. Reading a variety of ethnographic works, students study approaches to scripture, belief, faith, and religious practice, subjectivity, and affect. Contemporary debates and issues include violence, the nation-state, global capital, migration, justice, sustainability, identity, media and technology, aesthetics, spirituality, and culture.
