TFF4215 - Ritual Studies
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Course content
This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary study of ritual as embodied action, textual production, religious practice and cultural performance. Special attention will be given to lived ritual and to ritual inventions. Ritualizing will be approached as a conceptual lens for cultural analysis, theological reflection and social transformation. Issues concerning ritual such as gender, agency, identity and power will be addressed, including how ritual migrates and evolves with new interreligious contexts. Students will explore basic ritual elements experientially and learn to examine theoretical and methodological matters. Each student must read a monograph from one ritual field and conduct their own short field research on a particular group’s ritual practice (religious or secular), such as Christian worship, Muslim practice, New Age practice, funeral, festival, pilgrimage, rites of passage, etc., and learn requisite skills and methodologies for participant-observation, writing accounts, comparison and analysis.
Learning outcomes
- Understand basic concepts, methods and content of the interdisciplinary field of ritual studies.
- Learn the methods and theory of ritual studies by conducting ethnographic research on liturgical worship, religious performance or secular forms of ritualizing.
- Learn skills in the conduct of field based research, participant observation, writing and analysis.
- Develop skills in imaginative and analytical thinking about the function of ritual in society, including the community-building and transformative potential of ritual in human life.
Admission
The course requires at least 80 credits in theology, religion or social sciences with emphasis on religious studies. Each student must be admitted to a Masters program.
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in StudentWeb.
International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.
The examination in this course is not available for external candidates. Only students admitted to the course may sit for the examination.
Prerequisites
Formal prerequisites
Completed Bachelor degree in theology, religion, or social sciences with an emphasis on religious studies.
Teaching
Obligatory requirements
Each student must read attentively all assigned materials, focusing not only on the authors’ argument but also on how the argument is constructed and set within a wider conceptual framework. Engagement in class discussions indispensable. Students are required to attend 80 % of the lectures/seminars.
Each student will be required to post two short papers in Classfronter (1500 words), first a description of fieldwork experience with an in integrated methods reflection related to curriculum, second a curriculum reflection. In second paper students should identify main arguments, comment on the theory espoused by author(s) used and offer question or topics for discussion. Papers should be written in English. Each student will be required once to present own paper orally in class and once to respond to another student’s fronter presentation orally in class.
Criteria for access to teaching resources
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, contingent on available capacity.
Exam information
The student’s portfolio will be the basis for her or his evaluation.
The portfolio consists of the two short papers (1500 words) and of one term essay (between 4000-6000 words) on a chosen topic. Elements from the short papers can be used in term essay, which preferably should be grounded in the short ethnographic fieldwork. Supervision and help from teacher will be given to set up a bibliography for the essay. Essay can be written in English or in a Scandinavian language.
In the evaluation, the short papers weight 20% (each) and the essay weights 60%.
The portfolio will be evaluated with a single grade.
Exam resources
No special exam resources are allowed.
Language of examination
The language of examination is Norwegian. You can apply to the administrators of the course to be given the exam text in English. It is possible to submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Assessment and grading
Course grades are awarded on a descending scale using alphabetic grades from A to E for passes and F for fail. Read more about the grading system .
An external auditor regularly evaluates the academic quality of the course, including the form of exam used on the course.
Explanations and appeals
Students can request an explanation of their grades, and can also appeal against their grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals
Possibility of make-up exams and re-takes
You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam .
Exam options for students with special needs
Students may apply for access to alternative exam resources or exam forms on the basis of chronic illness and/or special needs that create a marked disadvantage to other students in the exam situation. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.
Evaluation of this course
Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. As a student at the University of Oslo you will therefore be asked to participate in various types of evaluation of our courses, facilities and services. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, in-depth evaluation of this course, a so called "periodic evaluation".
Other information
Fagansvarlige for temauka våren 2009 er:
Rolv Nøtvik Jakobsen, Førsteamanuensis, Praktisk teologisk seminar
Sivert Angel, stipendiat, Det teologiske fakultet, UiO
Contact us
Det teologiske fakultet
Visiting address:
Domus Theologica, Blindernveien 9
Visiting hours:
09.00-15.00
Postal address:
Pb. 1023 Blindern
0315 OSLO
Fax: 22850301
E-mail: info@teologi.uio.no
Web: http://www.tf.uio.no/