Syllabus
Topic outline
General
RELG 365: Smells and Bells: The Sensual Dimension of ReligionsEmail: jkraus@wheatonma.edu
Phone: 508-286-3694
Office: Knapton 102
Hours: M W 9:30 AM -12 PM, Tu Th 3:30-4:30 PM and by appointment- Course Description:This course is devoted to acquiring both “book knowledge” and experiential knowledge about the meaning of the sensual dimension of religion. Thus we will study the religious use of smell in rabbinic Judaism, sight in Hindu devotion, taste in Afro-Caribbean and medieval Christian, and Jewish piety, sound in Muslim music and Qur’an recitation, and touch across different religious traditions. And we will also engage in performance related activities both inside and outside of class to gain “experiential knowledge” about what goes into a ritual. The rituals we study, perform, and design are intended to integrate these two types of knowledge in a single activity, so that we will not only know in our heads what the activities we perform mean, but we can also feel, see, taste, and act it out. Rituals get us to know things not
only in our minds but also in our limbs and sense organs. They are not just things that are handed down to us, or imposed by others upon us as passive recipients. We have the power to shape old and create new rituals that say exactly what we know and mean to say about our relations with other people and with nature. That’s what we’ll be doing when we design collaboratively the end of semester “interfaith banquet” ritual for our class. In this and activities, including guest specialists who will present some aspect of each of the five senses, we will explore the role of embodied, symbolic behavior that rituals and dramatic performances share. And we’ll gather and prepare local food as part of our celebratory end of semester feast, and invite all our guest speakers and presenters to join us.GOALS OF THIS COURSE: This course is designed to assist you to- "read" and "speak" the language of embodied rituals
- understand how our senses are deployed in rituals to both accentuate and resolve social differences, and to express and enhance our relationships with the natural world
- recognize and reflect on the importance of "everyday" behavior - your own meal "rituals"
- integrate book knowledge and experiential knowledge about religious experience
- integrate your personal convictions with ethical, culturally sensitive, and respectful interaction with people whose traditions, beliefs, and assumptions might be quite different from yours
- practice collaborative learning
OUTSIDE OF CLASS SESSIONs: Several activities during and outside of class will be arranged to observe or create rituals, e.g., a Tu bishvat Seder (Jewish New Year for the Trees), a walk in Wheaton Woods, cooking, and for preparation of our banquet outside of regular class time. There will be guest lecturers coming to class from inside and outside of Wheaton.CONNECTIONS: Religion 365 is part of the Food Connection (Conx23002), and can be connected withBut also, the interdisciplinary nature of this course makes it an ideal course for a Student Initiated Connection, especially with appropriate courses in Biology, Psychology, and Neuroscience, or in the Creative Arts. I will be happy to work with students who want to pursue this.STATEMENT ON ACCESSIBILITY:Wheaton is committed to ensuring equitable access to programs and services and to prohibit discrimination in the recruitment, admission, and education of students with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Autumn Grant, Associate Director for Accessibility Services at the Filene Center for Academic Advising and Career Services, accessibility@wheatoncollege.edu, or (508) 286-8215. - Preparation of Readings. Each student is expected to read the assignments.
- Class participation (3%). There will be class discussions each session based on the readings. At the end of each class session, I'll ask you to jot down at least one brief comment summarizing the gist of the day's class, and one question prompted by the day's discussion - and any other questions or comments you want to add. Likewise, for each reading assignment, jot down at least one brief comment summarizing the gist of the reading, and any other questions or comments prompted by it. I will not collect these, but I will set aside about 5 minutes at the end of each class for you to do this in class.
- Class Presentation (17%) - by Groups
- Web Blog Sensory Interpretation Posts (40%). The blog is now set up here. Please go to this site, follow the instructions to log in, and begin blogging! FYI: An earlier example of this blog and the kinds of posts we made is here.
- Final “Interfaith” Banquet Ritual: Design, describe, and evaluate our own Final Banquet eating ritual (15%) In Groups
- Critical book review paper 5-10 typed pages (25%)
- READINGS:The following books have been ordered for this seminar at the Wheaton Bookstore. Students must purchase the required books (except as noted); purchasing the recommended books is optional - the reading assignments from them are not! In addition to these books, the required reading for the seminar includes a number or articles and book chapters that are available on this OnCourse site. You are urged to make personal photocopies of the article readings.Required:
- Diane Ackerman, Natural History of the Senses, Vintage, 1990)
- Constance Classen, The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (U. Illinois, 2012) You do not need to buy this book. It is available on-line here in an e-version through the Wheaton Library.
- Deborah Green, The Aroma of Righteousness: Scent and Seduction in Rabbinic Life and Literature (Penn State, 2011) Do not buy this book, because the assigned readings from it are available on-line here: Chapter 1, Chapters 3-4, and Chapter 6.
- Elizabeth Pérez Religion in the Kitchen : Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions (2016) You do not need to buy this book. It is available on-line here in an e-version through the Wheaton Library. You need to be on campus connected to the campus network to access this, or use the VPN protocols to access it from off campus.
- Diana Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India
- Anne Rasmussen, Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia (U. California, 2010) You do not need to buy this book. It is available on-line here in an e-version through the Wheaton Library. You need to be on campus connected to the campus network to access this, or use the VPN protocols to access it from off campus.
- David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More Than Human World (Vintage, 1997)
As OnCourse Files:- Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, "'Truly the Ear Tests Words as the Palate Tastes Food’ (Job 12:11): Synaesthetic Food Metaphors for the Experience of the Divine in Jewish Tradition," Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2009, ed. by Richard Hosking; Devon, UK: Prospect, 2010
- Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus and Betsey Dexter Dyer, "Cultures and Cultures: Fermented Foods as Culinary 'Shibboleths,'" co-authored with Betsey Dyer, in Cured, Fermented and Smoked Foods: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food And Cookery 2010, ed. by Helen Saberi; Devon, UK: Prospect, 2011.
- Rachel Fulton, “ ‘Taste and See that the Lord is Sweet’ (Ps. 33:9): The Flavor of God in the Monastic West.” The Journal of Religion 86, no. 2 (April 2006): 169-204
Recommended (Pick one of these for your critical book review assignment. You can buy it yourself on-line;some are free as ebooks our library own, and library hard copies will be on 3-day Reserve):- Robert Fuller, Spirituality in the Flesh: Bodily Sources of Religious Experience (Oxford, 2008)
- Ariel Glucklich, Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body For the Sake of the Soul (Oxford, 2003) Library has e-book.
- Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion (Pantheon, 2012)
- Graham Harvey, Food, Sex, and Strangers: Understanding Religion as Everyday Life (Routledge, 2014) Library has e-book.
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Milkweed, 2013) Library has e-book.
- Carolyn Korsmeyer, Making Sense of Taste: Food and Philosophy (Cornell U., 1999) library has e-book
- Nicholas Wade, The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures (Penguin, 2009)
- Ken Wilbur, The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion (Broadway Books, 1999)
Topic 2
Week 2: The Nature of Our Five SensesDate Topic Assignment M
1/27Smell Read: A Natural History of the Senses (NHS), pp. xv-64.The Web Blog is up but I haven't invited you yet, so you can't post on it yet. so post your responses to the readings from Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses here by Wednesday.When you do receive my invitation you will need to have accepted theBlogger invitation to participate in the blog.W 1/29 Touch and TasteRead: NHS, pp. 65-124, pp. 125-172.Cary Gouldin, Library liaison, will speak to us about using Blogger
Topic 3
Week 3: A Natural History of the Senses IIDate Topic Assignment M 2/3 Hearing; Smell and EmotionRead: NHS, pp. 173-226.Tu 2/4 Tu Bishvat seder5:30 Chapel Basement[bread and dessert baking earlier in the day at time TBAThe Multi-sensory Quality of Religious Rituals Interfaith Tu Bishvat Seder - based on Jewish Ritual celebrating the "New Year of The Trees" W 2/5 Vision; a Sixth Sense? Read: NHS, pp. 227-286; Selection from Jeffrey Kripal, Authors of the Unconscious, pp. 1-35
Topic 4
Week 4: Smell in Judaism: Deborah Green, The Aroma of Righteousness: Scent and Seduction in Rabbinic Life and LiteratureDate Topic Assignment M
2/17Synaesthesia Read: NHS, pp. 287-310.W 2/19 "The Aroma of Righteousness": Scent in Judaism*In the Hebrew BibleRead: Aroma of Righteousness (AR), "Introduction," pp. 1-18, and "Election and the Erotic: Biblical Portrayals of Perfume and Incense," pp. 64-115. And read Song of Songs from the Bible, which the rabbinic texts are interpreting.Guest Lecturer: Assistant Professor of Psychology Katherine Eskine.- Questions to think about for this week's readings in Deborah Green's Aroma of Righteousness
- Why has much scholarship of religions and religious texts in general, and of Jewish religion and texts in particular, tended not to pay attention to references to the sense of smell?
- What are the most important uses of scents in ancient Biblical, Roman, and rabbinic culture that Green calls attention to?
- What do you think is Deborah Green's main thesis in this book, and how does she intend to prove it?
- What role does incense play in Biblical rituals for worshiping God? How does God "eat" the sacrifices?
- What's the connection between sex and smell according to the Song of Songs?
Topic 5
Week 5: Smell in Judaism IIDate Topic Assignment M
2/24Scent in Rabbinic Judaism: Midrash of Biblical views of scent W 2/26Student Presentation (Smell Group):- *"...My (spike)nard gave off its fragrance"We're going to compare rabbinic and Biblical interpretations of this smell metaphor by analyzing closely at least 2 midrashim - rabbinic interpretation - of Song of Songs verse 1:12 on pp. 130 and 161-165 in the Aroma of Righteousness. For the sake of comparison, you should look at what Green says on pp. 86-7 about this passage in its original Biblical context in the Song of Songs.So please make sure you have a copy of the midrashim on pp. 130 and 161-165: the first: a difference of opinion between Rabbi Meir and and Rabbi Judah ; the second, the argument between R. Eliezer, R. Akiba, and R. Berekhiah (Green breaks this up into three quotations) over what they think Song of Songs 1:12 refers to. Basically, they're all associating the aroma with different events in Jewish history, to make different points.
Topic 6
Week 6: Taste in Medieval Christianity and Judaism/In Modern Afro-Caribbean Religious TraditionsIs eating just a metaphor?Date Topic Assignment M 3/2 Taste in Medieval Christianity and Judaism/Smell and Taste; Disgust and "Culinary Shibboleths": Taste and Group Boundaries Read: Rachel Fulton, “ ‘Taste and See that the Lord is Sweet’ (Ps. 33:9): The Flavor of God in the Monastic West.” The Journal of Religion 86, no. 2 (April 2006): 169-204;Read: Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher, Shulhan Shel Arba: "Translator's Introduction," "Preface," "The First Gate" (on-line)Question: What does "good" taste like in the Jewish and Christian texts you read or read about for this assignment? Hint: Is it sweet? Does it taste like any particular kind of food? Can you taste the good in your mouth?W 3/4 Taste in Afro-Caribbean Religious Traditions: Eating and Cooking Read: Perez, Religion in the Kitchen, pp. 1-84 (Introduction, Part 1)Guest Speaker: Dr. Rachel Herz, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, author of That's Disgusting! (2012) and The Scent of Desire (2009) - Rescheduled to 4/11Date TBA [4:30-5:30 PM, hamentaschen baking at Jewish Life House.}
Topic 7
Spring BreakDate Topic Assignment M 3/9 NO CLASS Erev Purim [Tu 310 NO CLASS Purim] W 3/11 NO CLASS
Taste in Modern Afro-Caribbean Religious Traditions
Date Topic Assignment M 3/16 Taste, Work, and Gender Read: Perez, Religion in the Kitchen, pp. 85-142Student Presentations: Taste GroupW 3/18 Taste: Eating and TalkingSmell and Taste; Disgust and "Culinary Shibboleths": Taste and Group BoundariesRead: Perez, Religion in the Kitchen, pp. 143-214
Topic 9
Hearing in Islam: Anne Rasmussen, Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in IndonesiaDate Topic Assignment M 3/23 Introduction Read: Anne Rasmussen "Setting the Scene," and "Hearing Islam in the Atmosphere,"Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia [WRQ], pp. xiii-73. Questions to consider: - What the relationship between indigenous Indonesian styles of music and Arabic poetry traditions for reciting the Qur'an?
- Does one "sing" the Qur'an? Is there anything "musical" about Qur'an recitation?
- Where are the primary venues in Indonesia where Islamic music is performed or taught?
- What is Anne Rasmussen's thesis? See if you can find a specific passage where she states it.
- What evidence does she say she's going to use to prove it?
W 3/25 Qur'an Recitation II Read: WRQ:"Learning Recitation: The Institutionalization of the Recited Qur'an ," Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, pp. 74-124.Class assignment: Meet with your groups to plan our final banquet ceremony- Here is a website that gives examples of different maqamat (the different modes used in traditional Arabic music), and characteristic musical phrases from each maqam. You can listen to the phrases themselves played on instruments (violin, oud, or buzuk), or short selections of songs that use those particular phrases. Rasmussen says that these maqamat which are used in Arabic songs and instrumental music are also used in Qur'an recitation. They are taught in the schools and Qur'an recitations using them are performed in the events she describes in her book.
Topic 10
Hearing in Islam, continuedDate Topic Assignment M 3/30 Read: WRQ:"Celebrating Religion and Nation," Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, pp. 125-165.Questions to reflect on:What is tilawah, and how does a reciter of Qur'an demonstrate her or his virtuosity in this form of recitation? Do you recognize these qualities in thisby Dr. Maria Ulfa?What is a hafla al-Qur'an?How does the actual sound of the Arabic of the Qur'an reinforce the idea and values of the equality of males and females in Islam? How does the organization and "choreography" of state-sponsored national haflat al-Qur'an reinforce the idea and values of the equality of males and females in Indonesian Islam, and of Indonesian Islamic democracy and pluralism in general?How does thestyle of music differ from other styles of Indonesian Islamic music, like qasida rebana or gambus? Gamelan dakwa (? What implication does it have for gender roles in Indonesia?In what sense is the "traditionalist" Arabic Qur'anic recitation contest culture of Indonesia more "liberal" than other Indonesian Islamic modernist movements, according to Rasmussen?Tu 3/27Evening 7:00-8:30 PMAttendance requiredW 4/1 Music Read: WRQ:"Performing Piety Through Islamic Musical Arts," Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, pp. 166-210Guest Speaker Professor of Music Matthew Allen?
Topic 11
Date Topic Assignment M 4/6Performing Impiety Through Drag Arts 1) Workshop with performers from the visiting House of Larva Drag Cooperative2) Meet with your groups in class to plan your part of the Final Banquet ceremony. Please post the ideas and suggestions your group comes up with today here. One post per group is enough, but it should reflect the consensus of your sense group.3.) Pick the book for your final project, and post the title here.W 4/81st Night of Passover NO CLASSF 4/10GOOD FRIDAY SU 4/12 EASTER - Please delegate one person to post the ideas for the banquet you discussed in your "Sense" Group meeting on Monday 4/2 (and any further group reports/ideas) here. Each group should try to think of specific activities, things for the setting of the meal, etc. that involve and emphasize your group's sense experience( taste, smell, sound, sight, touch, "sixth sense") that you think would be good things to include in the banquet. Try to be realistic - what are things you think you would like enjoy experiencing at the banquet that don't seem too contrived, but still fit both the themes of our course and the celebration of ours and our fellow students' academic accomplishments? Hint: Meals and the sensory experiences they involve are community bonding activities. What can we do at our meal to shape and model the kind of community we want to be at Wheaton, the kind that encourages the best, most positive kinds of interactions with one another. But also, given the current cultural climate, how can we have fun and celebrate at a meal with our classmates, faculty, and staff in ways that our sensory pleasure rewards reward socially constructive and elevating behaviors, rather than demeaning, disrespectful, hurtful ones, and in ways that respect our differences, without erasing them?
Topic 12
Seeing in Hinduism: Diana Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in IndiaDate Topic Assignment M 4/13 Read: WRQ:"Rethinking Women, Music, and Islam," Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, pp. 125-164.Student Presentation: Hearing GroupW 4/15 Seeing the Sacred: The Nature of Hindu Images; Image, Temple, Pilgrimage; Seeing the Divine Image in America Read: Diana Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, pp. ix-92Guest Speaker: Professor of Psychology Rolf NelsonMorning home pujaHow to have a Puja at homeRescheduled Guest Speaker: Dr. Rachel Herz, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, author of That's Disgusting! (2012) and The Scent of Desire (2009).
Topic 13
Touch in Religious PracticeDate Topic Assignment M 4/20 Sacred healing Touch and Sacred Read: Constance Classen, The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (U. Illinois, 2012) pp. xi-46; Ariel Glucklich, "Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self," The Harvard Theological Review, 91:4 (Oct., 1998), pp. 389-412,The Touch Group PresentationW 4/22 Sacred Healing Touch/"A Woman's Touch,""Animal Skins" Guest Speaker: Elizabeth S. Robinson, Massage Therapist, Divine Providence Massage
Topic 14
Date Topic Assignment M
4/27and 2-6:30 PM"The Tactile Arts," The Modern Touch," "Sensations of a New Age" Constance Classen, The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch, pp. 123-198Movie in Class: Devi (Bengali with English subtitles)Read Eck's description in Darsan, pp. 63-64.Why do you think Eck recommended Devi to illustrate the Hindu concept and practice of darsan. In what sense in Devi is seeing a kind of touching?Student Presentation: Vision Group2-6:30 PM Baking in the President's catering KitchenTu Evening4/28 5:30-7:30[plus prep at 4:30 and clean-up time]Banquet? Also, bread, dessert making, cooking sessions in the catering kitchen next to the President's house at time TBA W 4/29 David Abrams, The Spell of the Sensuous, pp. ix-72.
Walk in Wheaton Woods
Topic 15
Synaesthesia: David Abrams, The Spell of the SensuousDate Topic Assignment M 4/30 David Abrams, The Spell of the Sensuous, pp. 73-180.ORJeffrey Kripal, Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred, pp. 215-249. "Magnetic powers" as a candidate for "the 6th Sense"Student Presentation: "Sixth Sense" GroupW 5/2 Last Day of Class David Abrams, The Spell of the Sensuous, pp. 181-274.Evaluations- Questions to consider for David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous
- For most of the course, we've been looking at the sensual dimensions of religions. What does Abrams suggest might be the religious dimension of the sensual?
- The role of the shaman/magician?
- Creativity and imagination?
- Interactivity between people and nature?
- What exactly is the role of the shaman or "sacred magician" in human societies, and what does it have to do with sense perception?
- How does Abram use Husserl's idea of the "Life-World" to reframe our understanding of what happens when we perceive things through our senses?
- Is perception a one-way or reciprocal activity?
- How?
- How does Abram use Merleau-Ponty's ideas about intersubjectivity and language to reframe our understanding of what happens when we perceive things throughour senses? What does Abram mean by the following in light of M-P?
- "The mindful life of the body"
- "The body's silent conversation with things"
- "The animateness of the perceptual world"
- "perception as participation"
- "Synesthesia - the fusion of the senses"
- "The Recuperation of the Sense is the Rediscovery of the Earth"
- "Matter as Flesh"
- Is Abram's implication that we're all shamans when we perceive and communicate the live world as he's suggesting?
- Does nature "communicate back to us" better than our human creations? Why, according to Abram? What doe you think?
- What role does ordinary or scientific language play in breaking "the spell of the sensuous"?
- For most of the course, we've been looking at the sensual dimensions of religions. What does Abrams suggest might be the religious dimension of the sensual?
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