RELS 341 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Syncretism, Semiotics, Traditional Knowledge

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 341
• Professor: Sharday Mosurinjohn

Document Summary

Religious studies is a social scienti c enterprise. Multiple secularities (casanova: secularity as liberation from religion vs. secularity as living without religion being a normal, taken-for-granted option; or where religion may be norma, viable option, 3 theories of secularization. Privatization of religion as precondition for politics. Religion as a disciplinary horizon (jz smith: religion a term created by scholars for their intellectual purposes (mis)recognizing indigenous religion and spirituality. Restructuring: pressure to restructure traditional practices to t the model of dominant worship systems. Syncretism: mustn"t con ate indigenous people with indigenous religion/spirituality . Anthropologist walter williams on spirituality, spirit and two-spirit: : two-spirit persons are seen as doubly blessed, having both the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman therefor, many [indigenous] religions, rather than stigmatizing such persons, often looked to them as religious leaders and teachers .