Fall 2008

ANS 340 • Religion and Rebellion in Modern East Asia - W

Course Description

This reading and discussion based course will focus on the 19th and 20th centuries, examining both specific movements (e.g. the Taiping Rebellion, The Boxers and Aum Shinrikyo) and general trends, such as Japanese new religions, modern millenarianism, shamanism and ascetic practice. We will focus on critical analytical themes such as the pre-existing indigenous understandings of the intersection of religion and politics, motivations of adherents, new movements' roots in established institutions and orthodox practices, state repression of new religious movements, relationships between the emergence of new religions and imperialism/colonialism, and the status of religious minorities.

Grading Policy

Short Papers - Two 3 - 5 page papers based on assigned readings.; Annotated Bibliography for Final Research Paper; Final Research Paper: 8 - 12 pages; 2 Presentations: On research proposal & bibliography; one on final research paper

Texts

Spence, Jonathan. God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan; Ooms, Emily Groszos. Women and Millenarian Protest in Meiji Japan: Deguchi Nao and Omotokyo; Cohen, Paul. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience and Myth; Gyatso, Tenzin (The Fourteenth Dalai Lama). My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet; Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo; Course packet

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