Department of Religious Studies

Utilizing the critical lenses of anthropology and ethnography, this course examines the ways that Islam influences culture and society in the contemporary world. We will draw upon scholarship of different social contexts, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and the Western world, to investigate the contributions made by Islam in fields as diverse as art and aesthetic production, finance and banking, organ transplantation and other medical procedures, law and politics, resource extraction and environmental protection, and expressions of gender identity and sexual preferences. Students will acquire some familiarity with critical concepts such as tradition, self-cultivation, embodiment, everyday religion, and global assemblages.