Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Notes:
Most humanities and social sciences scholars believed that as of late twentieth century secularism has won, and the separation of religion and politics had become increasingly synonymous with the conquest for a modern, rational, and democratic governance. However, the dynamics over the course of the century have indicated that religion continues to challenge such endeavor, even in “mature” democracies. Moreover, the current rise of fundamentalism, extremism and violence, both perpetrated by the states and non-state actors, have illustrated a “backlash” against such conquest for “modernity” and ultimately necessitate a revisit of the said narrative of secularism.
This course aims at encouraging a deeper understanding on two dimensions of the nexus of religion and politics in the modern world: firstly, the contemporary debates on religion and politics, framed as a comparative study across various contexts around the globe, highlighting the link between religion and politics in democracies and non-democracies. We will explore themes such as secularization, “civil religion”, religion as a salient identity, religion as a “fluid” category, religious civil and “uncivil” societies, and the connection between religion, politics and nationalism among modern nation-states.
The second dimension focuses on the rise of transnational religious networks, religious fundamentalism, and religious nationalism as they emerged globally in the twentieth century. We will examine how “religion” poses challenges in the US, Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East, by looking at religious nationalism and fundamentalism, e.g., Hindu nationalism in India, Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar, Christian nationalism in the US, and others.
The course is therefore divided into two parts: the first examines key concepts of religion, religious politics, secularism, church-state separation and nationalism; and the second explores aspects of religious nationalism and fundamentalism by examining the case studies from countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Turkey, Iran, Israel and the US
On Week 11 we will watch a documentary film “The Venerable W” (2017, Filmmaker: Barbet Schroeder) about Buddhist nationalist monk Ashin Wirathu of Myanmar.
能力項目說明
After completing the course, students will:
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
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Week |
Topic |
Content and Reading Assignment |
Teaching Activities and Homework |
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1 |
Introduction |
Syllabus Evaluation Criteria Class Regulations |
Introduction of syllabus and regulations Students choose the 6 (six) weeks in which they want to submit their individual essays. No Homework |
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2 |
What is religion? What is politics? Defining religion in the modern world
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Required Readings Fox, Jonathan. An introduction to religion and politics: theory and practice. New York: Routledge, 2013. Ch.1 Jeffrey Haynes, ed. Routledge handbook of religion and politics, New York: Routledge, 2008, Chapter 1 Additional Grzymala-Busse, Anna. "Why comparative politics should take religion (more) seriously." Annual Review of Political Science 15 (2012): 421-442 |
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3 |
Religion & Secularism |
Required Readings Moro, Renato. "Religion and politics in the time of secularisation: The sacralisation of politics and politicisation of religion." Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 6.1 (2005): 71-86 Bruce, Steve. "Secularisation and politics." Routledge handbook of religion and politics. Routledge, 2008. 157-170. Additional Talal Asad, “Thinking about Religious Belief and Politics,” in Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies, ed. Robert Orsi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 36-57 |
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4 |
Multiple Secularisms |
Required Readings Asad, Talal, “Trying to understand French secularism.” In: de Vries H, Sullivan LE (eds) Political Theologies. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2006, pp. 494–526 Keyman, E. Fuat. "Modernity, secularism and Islam: The case of Turkey." Theory, culture & society 24.2 (2007): 215-234 Additional Bhargava, Rajeev, and T. N. Srinivasan. "The distinctiveness of Indian secularism." The future of secularism (2007) |
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5 |
Religion and Democracy |
Required Readings Stepan, Alfred. "Religion, democracy, and the" twin tolerations"." Journal of Democracy 11 (2000): 37-57 Habermas, Jürgen. “Religion in the Public Sphere.” European Journal of Philosophy 14 (1) 2006: 1-25. Additional Habermas, Jürgen. “Notes on Post-Secular Society.” New Perspectives Quarterly 25 (4) 2008: 17-29. |
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6 |
Civil religion: “non-religious”-ness and the myth of tolerance |
Required Readings Bellah, Robert, “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus 96, 1, 1967: 1-21. McCargo, Duncan. "The Politics of Buddhist identity in Thailand's deep south: The Demise of civil religion?." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40.1 (2009): 11-32 Additional Yamashita, Yoko. "Islam and Muslims in “non-religious” Japan: caught in between prejudice against Islam and performative tolerance." International Journal of Asian Studies 19.1 (2022): 81-97. |
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7 |
NO CLASS Children’s Day, Qingming Festival |
NO CLASS |
NO CLASS |
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8 |
Religious Nationalism and Fundamentalism |
Required Readings Juergensmeyer, Mark. (2010) "The global rise of religious nationalism." Australian Journal of International Affairs 64.3: 262-273. Grzymala-Busse, Anna. (2019). “Religious nationalism and religious influence.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics Juergensmeyer, Mark. "Why religious nationalists are not fundamentalists." (1993): 85-92. Additional Brubaker, Rogers. (2012). Religion and nationalism: Four approaches. Nations and nationalism, 18,1, 2-20. |
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9 |
Religion and violence |
Required Readings Gorski, Philip S., and Gülay Türkmen-Dervişoğlu. "Religion, nationalism, and violence: An integrated approach." Annual Review of Sociology 39 (2013): 193-210. Brubaker, Rogers. (2015), "Religious dimensions of political conflict and violence." Sociological Theory 33.1: 1-19. Additional Cavanaugh, William T. "The invention of fanaticism." Modern Theology 27.2 (2011): 226-237. |
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10 |
Islamophobia and nationalism in Myanmar and Thailand
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Required Readings Kyaw, Nyi Nyi. "The role of myth in anti-muslim buddhist nationalism in Myanmar." Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2020. 197-226. Tonsakulrungruang, Khemthong. "The Revival of Buddhist Nationalism in Thailand and Its Adverse Impact on Religious Freedom." Asian Journal of Law and Society 8.1 (2021): 72-87. Additional Chowdhury, Arnab Roy (2020) “An ‘un-imagined community’: the entangled genealogy of an exclusivist nationalism in Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis”, Social Identities 26:5, 590-607 |
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11 |
FILM WEEK |
We will be watching The Venerable W (2017). Director: Barbet Schroeder. Schroeder focuses on the life of Ashin Wirathu, an influential monk who propagated hatred against Islam in Myanmar. This film is Schroeder’s last film in his “Trilogy of Evil” consisting of General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974) and Terror’s Advocate (2007). |
Watch Film Discussion |
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10 |
Modernism and Nationalism: Iran and Turkey |
Required Readings Findley, Carter Vaughn. "Turkey, Islam, nationalism, and modernity." Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity. Yale University Press, 2010. Marashi, Afshin. "Paradigms of Iranian Nationalism: History, Theory, and Historiography." Rethinking Iranian nationalism and modernity. University of Texas Press, 2021. 3-24. Additional Skocpol, Theda. "Rentier state and Shi'a Islam in the Iranian revolution." Theory and society 11.3 (1982): 265-283. |
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12 |
Islamic nationalism and “uncivil” society in Indonesia
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Required Readings Menchik, J. (2014). Productive intolerance: Godly nationalism in Indonesia. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 56(3), 591–621 Simandjuntak, Deasy (2021) "Disciplining the Accepted and Amputating the Deviants: Religious Nationalism and Segregated Citizenship in Indonesia." Asian Journal of Law and Society 8.1: 88-107 Additional Hefner, Robert W. "Islam and institutional religious freedom in Indonesia." Religions 12.6 (2021) |
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14 |
Militant nationalism in India and Israel |
Required Readings Van der Veer, P. (2021). “Minority Rights and Hindu Nationalism in India.” Asian Journal of Law and Society, 8(1), 44-55 Yadgar, Yaacov, and Noam Hadad. "A post-secular interpretation of religious nationalism: the case of Religious-Zionism." Journal of Political Ideologies 28.2 (2023): 238-255. Additional Chacko, Priya. (2019). “Marketizing Hindutva: The state, society, and markets in Hindu nationalism.” Modern Asian Studies, 53(2), 377-410 |
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15 |
Christian Nationalism in the US |
Required Readings Whitehead, Andrew L., Samuel L. Perry, and Joseph O. Baker. "Make America Christian again: Christian nationalism and voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election." Sociology of Religion 79.2 (2018): 147-171. Perry, Samuel L., Cyrus Schleifer. "My country, white or wrong: Christian nationalism, race, and blind patriotism." Ethnic and Racial Studies 46.7 (2023): 1249-1268 Additional Armaly, Miles T., David T. Buckley, and Adam M. Enders. "Christian nationalism and political violence: Victimhood, racial identity, conspiracy, and support for the capitol attacks." Political behavior 44.2 (2022): 937-960 |
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16 |
Conclusion & Presentation Week |
Presentation Week
Juergensmeyer, Mark. "Religious nationalism in a global world." Religions 10.2 (2019): 97. |
Student Final Presentation |
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17 |
Presentation Week |
Presentation Week |
Student Final Presentations |
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18 |
FINAL PAPER Week |
Final Paper Submission NO CLASS |
NO CLASS |
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Evaluations
Criterion
***The use of generative AI is prohibited. The essays and papers for this course will be evaluated based on how we express our understanding of theories based on our discussions in the classroom, and how we can use these theories to analyze contemporary case studies. Written pieces generated by AIs do not reflect such understanding or connection between theories and case studies as they do not capture the classroom discussions.*** |
Please see the course weekly schedule
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