RELIGION AND THE MEDIA
Instructor: John Hinnant
103B Morrill Hall
Phone: 353-2930
E-mail: Hinnant@pilot.msu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:45 p.m. to 4:00 PM
and by appointment.
Religion 210 will explore the portrayal of religion in the media, and the use of the media to promote religious beliefs. Examples from film, television, print media and the internet will be used. There are numerous examples of films depicting religious groups throughout the world. These generally take the form of documentaries, but also include films advocating conversion. Television is likewise a source of documentaries. It has additionally given rise to a seemingly endless parade of >televangelists.=
Most recently, the internet has come to provide a forum for advocates of every sacred and secular doctrine or idea. A search of the home pages of religious groups reveals many groups and individuals intent on convincing others of the correctness of the writer's beliefs. In addition, newsgroups contain ongoing debates concerning all manner of beliefs. There are also net sites devoted to spiritualism, sorcery and witchcraft.
This course will have several purposes. First, semiotic and other approaches to developing critical faculties for evaluation of the media will be discussed. We will read about Ferdinand de Saussure's concepts of the nature of symbolism in general. Other writers will discuss the critical analysis of film symbolism. Emphasis will be on the uniquely convincing ability of visual media to lie. Then, a number of documentary films of religions in cultures throughout the world will be critically evaluated in conjunction with readings concerning the religious groups and cultures involved. Films representing traditional religions in Brazil, New Guinea, Africa, and Indonesia will be viewed. Each film portrays both a culture and a major dimension of the religious experience. We will encounter the enactment of cosmological myth during religious performance, the struggle for secular power through ritual feasting, sports learned from missionaries converted into ritual expressions of traditional values, and the importance of rituals of initiation for the formation of personal identity. During this part of the course, we will also witness spirit trance and curing, witchcraft and divination, and the attempt to create computer models of elaborate irrigation systems organized through temple ritual cycles. This part of the course will conclude with attempts to create documentaries explaining several of the major world religions.
Finally, the new medium of the Internet will be explored for home pages, news groups and other means of conveying opinions and information on religion. Because of the interactive nature of the internet, it may become a far more effective medium than television. It will certainly contain far more voices advocating their beliefs, since it is relatively easy and inexpensive to create a home page or participate in a news group. As explained below, you will have the opportunity to interactively explore the internet.
C. REQUIREMENTS
Requirements will include: three essay and short answer mid terms (20% each) and a research paper (40%. A brief presentation of the research paper will be one component of the grade.) NOTE: There is NO final exam in this course.
Research Paper
There are four media to explore when deciding on a research topic for your paper: print, documentary film, television, and the Internet. These should provide abundant possibilities. The paper should be 10-15 pages in length. You will have the opportunity to present your research to the class during the last four meetings of the term.
PLEASE NOTE: It is extremely important to attend class. Films and videos cannot be made available for viewing at times other than class meetings. Some of the films are rented and are immediately shipped back to their source by the MSU Instructional Media Center. Videos (which are controlled by MSU Instructional Television) cannot be copied, due to copyright restrictions. Instructional Television has too few facilities to allow for individual viewing of its videos.
Assignments and lectures:
September 1
Introduction
Film: None
Readings: None
September 3
General discussion of the construction of meaning in the media
Film: Number our Days
Readings: From Number our Days by Barbara Meyerhoff, ch. 3, "We don't wrap herring in a printed page."
Edmonds, Robert, Anthropology on Film, "Truth vs. Veracity" (pages 17-25) and "Objectivity vs. Aesthetics" (pages 41-45).
September 8
Ritual performance and cosmology in traditional cultures. (Brazil)
Film: We are Mehinaku
Readings: Gregor, Mehinaku: The Drama of Daily Life in a Brazilian Indian Village, ch.2 and 21 Culler, Ferdinand de Saussure, ch. 2.
September 10
Ritual, politics and political power
Film: Ongka's Big Moka (Papua, New Guinea)
Reading: The Rope of Moka, by Andrew Strathern. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1971) ch. 1 and 6.
September 15
Ritual, politics and political power
Film: Trobriand Cricket (Trobriand Islands)
Readings: "The Nature of Trobriand Exchange, "in Women of Value. Men of Renown, by Annette Weiner, ch. 9., "Structure and Message in Trobriand
Cricket," by Jerry Leach
September 17
Rituals of initiation and the forging of new identities
Film: Maasai Women (East Africa)
Reading: "Women, Warriors and Patriarchs," by Melissa Llewellyn-Davies, in Sexual Meanings, edited by Sherry B. Ortner and Harriet Whitehead
September 22
Rituals of initiation and the forging of new identities
Film: Maasai Manhood (East Africa)
Reading: The Maasai of Matapato, by Paul Spencer.
September 24
Orientation to the use of the internet. The class will meet in the computer center for professional instruction.
No films or specific readings.
September 29
Trance and curing (Bali, Indonesia)
Films: Jero on Jero, A Balinese Trance Seance and The Medium is the Masseuse
Readings: Linda Connor, Patsy Asch, and Timothy Asch, Jero Tapakan: Balinese Healer. An Ethnographic Film Monograph, ch. 3.
October 1
Film: Sacred Trances of Java and Bali (Indonesia)
Reading: Trance and possession in Bali, Luh Ketut Suryani, Gordon D. Jensen, ch. 2-3
October 6
Film: The instructor's videotapes of Jero Made Kupit, trance medium. Discussion of techniques of videotaping.
Readings: Same as above (Trance and possession in Bali, Luh Ketut Suryani, Gordon D. Jensen, ch. 2-3)
October 8
FIRST EXAM
October 13
Witchcraft and divination (Sudan, Africa)
Film: Witchcraft Among the Azande
Reading: E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande, ch. 1 and 2.
October 15
Discussion of Research Projects
October 20
Film making, traditional culture and computer technology
Film: The Goddess and the Computer
Readings: Priests and Programmers, Introduction, Steve Lansing
October 22
Perceptions of world religions - Buddhism
Film: Buddhism: A Question of Consciousness
Readings: Buddhism, a Way of Life and Thought, Ross, Nancy Wilson, chapter 1
October 27
Buddhism
Film: The Long Search: Buddhism: The Land of the Disappearing Buddha - Japan
Readings: Same as the above (Buddhism, a Way of Life and Thought, Ross, Nancy
Wilson, chapter 1)
October 29
Perceptions of world religions: Islam
Film: Smithsonian World: Islam
Readings: Rahman, Islam, ch. 1-3
November 3
Islam
Film: There is No God But One God
Readings: Same as above (Rahman, Islam, ch. 1-3)
November 5
Perceptions of Hinduism
Film: 330 Million Gods
Reading: Hinduism, a Cultural Perspective, David R. Kinsley, chapter 2.
November 10
SECOND EXAM
November 12
Televangelism's Representations of Christianity
Film: Frontline: Give me that Big Time Religion
Readings: Pray TV, By Steve Bruce. Chapters 2-4
November 17
Televangelism's Representations of Christianity
Film: Frontline: Praise the Lord
Readings: Same as the above (Pray TV, By Steve Bruce. Chapters 2-4)
November 19
Film: Frontline: Resurrection on Reverend Moon
Readings: Pray TV, By Steve Bruce. Ch. 7-10
November 24
Film: Zulu Zion
Reading: Sundkler, Bengt, Zulu Zion, ch. 5.
November 26
No Class - Thanksgiving holiday
December 1
Presentation of student projects
Readings: None
December 3
Presentation of student projects
Readings: None
December 8
Presentation of student projects
Readings: None
December 10
THIRD EXAM
ALL RESEARCH PROJECTS DUE