This course is an introduction to various religious traditions in East Asia. We will discuss major religions as well as new religious movements. Topics include Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shintô, Japanese New Religions (shinkô shûkyô) including Mahikari and Soka Gakkai, folk/shamanic beliefs, and Christianity in East Asia.

(IV and VIII)

Same as History 16B

Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Themes/Applications (Category 2)
This course explores different approaches to resolving international conflict. Although rooted in Political Science, students from other fields will encounter concepts, (eg, nationalism, interfaith dialogue, peace, reconciliation, etc.) to which they can apply interdisciplinary research tools and perspectives. It will specifically emphasize the role that external actors have played in stopping violence and building peace, using the United States’ approaches to peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel-Palestine as case studies. The course is structured so that students first acquire the basic tools necessary to identify different characteristics of intractable conflicts and to explain what causes conflicts to become intractable. It will then explore peacebuilding approaches at both the “Track I” (official, state-sponsored diplomacy) level as well as the “Track II/III” (unofficial, citizen diplomacy) levels. Students will specifically learn about how negotiation and mediation can be applied to resolve conflicts at both levels. The course will conclude by examining reconciliation processes and by investigating challenges to achieving reconciliation between states as well as among citizens.

Same as Poli Sci 149 Sec. A

Days: MWF  11:00-11:50 AM

Self-Love, Narcissism and the Common Good

In the age of social media, we tend to associate human self-love with the myth of Narcissus, trapped in the love of his self-reflected image. Self-love, however, was conceived of much more positively in Antiquity. Aristotle and the Stoics, for instance, used the argument that we love people to whom we do good more than we love those who do good to us to oppose generous self-love to both selfishness and altruism. To them, actual love of self was in fact the natural reward of virtue and, as such, the core principle of friendship and active participation in the common good. This interpretation of self-love was, however, largely opposed by Christian theology. Saint Augustine described original sin as the corruption of man’s love of God into self-love. Since pagan virtues derive from self-love, they are sinful and false. Outside of Christian charity all human virtues are but disguised vices.

Paradoxically, in a context when this quarrel over the falsehood of human virtues outside of charity was revived at the Renaissance, an austere Augustinian interpretation of human self-love played a significant role in the invention of modern economic science: if only God’s grace can remedy the evil nature of self-love, skillful government should not foolishly attempt to make men virtuous but should instead channel their vices for the greater benefit of society. Such reflections directly influenced Bernard Mandeville, whose famous motto “Private vices. Public benefits” inspired Adam Smith’s metaphor of the “invisible hand”. Allegedly, the greed and selfishness of the rich may result in creating more wealth, and more distribution of this wealth to the poor through labor, than charity will ever have been able to. Indeed, from Rousseau to Smith, philosophers challenged Mandeville’s controversial argument pointing to its restrictive understanding of self-love and its negative moral and political consequences.

This course will examine these philosophical debates on self-love and the common good in Antiquity, their impact in Early Modern French and European thought, as well as their role in the genealogy of political economy in the early wake of capitalism.

Same as Euro St 150; French 150; and Philos 130
Emphasis/Category: Themes/Applications (Category 2)
Days: W  02:00-04:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)

The course is upper level and conducted like a seminar—a weekly conversation on topics arising from the reading of primary sources (from 600 BCE to now).  No tests.  But there is weekly reading and weekly writing. You’ll compose written summaries of the readings  (to prove you read it)  and you’ll compose short ‘thought’ essays about ideas in the readings that set in motion your further thinking on the matter.  Your short thought essays become topics we all can discuss in class. Note:  there is reading and writing due the first day of class  (see assignments on Canvas).  In addition to reading and writing, you must talk (and listen) in our class discussions, and obviously you must show up for that. An absence in a once-a-week class is a whole week of absences. You are graded 50% each on writing and speaking  (with an absence losing all speaking points for that week).  The primary sources you’ll read represent only a tiny portion of a vast literature of religious skepticism, a literature that no one gets exposed to in their educational career, from kindergarten through the Ph.D.  (Why do you think that is?)  There is one textbook available via PDF and possibly in the UCI bookstore:  “Varieties of Unbelief from Epicurus to Sartre,” edited by J.C.A. Gaskin.

Same as History 114 Section A

Days: WE  03:00-05:50 PM

ART HISTORY 103
Emphasis/Category: Themes/Applications (Category 2)

Towering over the modern city, the Athenian Acropolis is one of the most recognizable monuments of the ancient Greek world. The first half of the course traces the ancient history of this monument from its origins as a fortified citadel in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1300-1200 BC) through its development into the main sanctuary of the city-state of Athens in the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 600-338 BC), focusing on the role of sculpture and architecture in a Greek sanctuary context. The second half of the course will explore the
post-Classical life of the monument, from the conversion of the Parthenon into a church and, later, a mosque, as well as the “rediscovery” of the Acropolis, the removal of the Parthenon marbles to London, and the role that this archaeological site played in the
creation of the modern Greek state. Finally, this course will consider current issues of development, tourism, and heritage management at this site, up to and including the controversial installation of a new pathway in 2021.

Days: MW  11:00-12:20 PM

Religion Research Lab: Applied Theories & Methods 4 Units. 

A survey and investigation of the major thinkers, theories, and methodologies in the study of religions. Designed to develop the student's ability to analyze and articulate theoretical arguments in writing; includes a paper on relevant Religious Studies topics.
Emphasis/Category: (Category 1)
Days: TU TH  04:00-05:20 PM

No description is currently available.
Days: Mo We  12:00-01:20 PM

Minorities in the Muslim World

This seminar explores minoritized populations in the Muslim world, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. It will examine the politicization of religious difference and its relationship to the state, citizenship, and secular equality.  Beginning with the early modern period, this course follows the trajectories of minoritized populations from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east—Copts, Druze, Armenians, Bahá’í, and Jews, among others.

We look at how European imperialism impacted religious minorities. For instance, imagine, from one year to the next, being defined as French, when just last week you were Jewish and Algerian. How did minoritized populations navigate the challenges of modernity including the creation of artificial borders, economic exploitation, and the imposition of European cultural and legal systems? How did new ideas about equality and belonging change the legal status of those living under Islamic rule as well as how did the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism change the social and political landscape? Through cinematic, literary, anthropological, and historical texts, this course examines broader questions of changing notions of difference, shifting social hierarchies, language, ethnicity, belonging, and mobility.

Same as History 132H
Days: TU TH  05:00-06:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions and has been the religion of the Persian Empire throughout antiquity. It has influenced immensely the development of other religions attested in Asia and the Mediterranean in the pre-modern period. Unlike other faiths professed in the ancient world, Zoroastrianism has survived to this day, and Zoroastrian communities exist in India and Iran, as well as in Europe and North-America. In fact, many believers in the Best Religion now live in Southern California. Zoroastrian religious tenets developed in constant dialogue with other traditions, during our classes we will see how this happened in the various historical periods.

The aim of the course is to introduce the history of the Zoroastrian community from beginnings to the present day while discussing its religious beliefs seen from an historical point of view. The main text that will be used is Mary Boyce’s Zoroastrians. Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Other points of view will be introduced in class.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

When Race Meets Religion

Is religion a form of race? Is race religion by another means? With an eye toward both the U.S. and global contexts, this class takes up these questions. We will consider how race and religion are inseparable and how racial formation is, in fact, a type of “political theology” that yet shapes the present. Specifically, we will examine how separating humans into groups like white, black, brown, Asian, indigenous, etc., emerged with anthropological ideas of the savage and the heathen and secular-political ideas about property, citizenship, freedom and slavery. Finally, we will consider how these new ways of understanding the human extend classical religious ideas about “the saved” and “the damned” and about (the) god(s) and myths of the origins."
Days: MO WE  01:30-02:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: Themes/Applications (Category 2)

This course examines autobiographies by Native American people to learn about the histories of Indigenous individuals and communities from their own perspectives. Students will engage with historical and political contexts, including US attempts to abolish Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty and treaty rights; Indian Removal and the reservation system; colonial migration and settlement; federal Indian assimilation policy; and Indigenous Peoples’ continuing presence and resistance to ongoing US settler colonialism. Students will gain an introduction to uniquely Native American autobiographical forms, including as-told-to narratives; mixed genre works; visual texts; and storytelling methods that blend oral traditions, mythography, and cosmology with personal experience. Course materials include autobiography, memoir, mixed genre works, and academic essays by artists and scholars from the Dakota, Kiowa, Kumeyaay, Laguna Pueblo, Osage, and Pequot nations.

Same as Com Lit 105; English 105
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

We will explore global perspectives in religion and philosophy of science in both theory and praxis. Students will: (1) assess and expand existing frameworks and methods for religion-science dialog, (2) identify epistemic and value claims within past and present religious-scientific debates, and (3) analyze contemporary ethical issues at the intersection of religion and science (such as climate, human-animal relations, space exploration, abortion, food security, public health, biomedicine, textbook debates, among others) utilizing their own experimental methodology informed by the philosophy of science and other disciplines.
Days: MW  09:30-10:50 AM

Multispecies Knowing

Multispecies perspectives can challenge and expand long-standing questions in Western philosophy: Who or what counts as a knower? What kinds of knowing are valid? Is knowledge a product of mind, body, or something else? Historically, these epistemic questions have been answered in ways that neutralize the knowing and knowledge contribution of and for more-than-human beings, as well as those on the margins of society considered less than “human.” Consequently, these assumptions often support the destruction of ecological habitats, industrialization of food animals, widespread use of insect and plant toxins, water and air pollution, climate extinctions, ecological militarism, and the perpetual flow of living beings used for entertainment, research, clothing, companionship, and economic resources. We will engage cross-cultural and multidisciplinary perspectives (including Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Christian, Muslim, African, Daoist, LatinX, Animist, Kabbalistic, Indigenous, among others) as well as philosophies of plant and insect life, race and disability studies, laboratory epistemology, embodied semiotics, and scholar-artists—toward new modes of responsiveness alongside the existent entities who co-constitute our entangled planetary existence.
Days: TU  04:00-06:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)

Myths are made of the substance of dreams and have been humanity’s companions since the most ancient of days. Mythical narratives are the earliest form of literature, still influencing today’s literary and artistic creativity. Scholars have investigated these narrations employing different methodologies, and no doubt some themes derive from universal archetypes. However, many cultures share themes that have been inherited or acquired through contact. The goal of our class is to investigate the myths of the ancient people who inhabited the vast expanse of land bridging India and Europe, including those belonging to some of the key cultures of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. We will travel from India to Iran, from Athens to Rome, from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe. following in the footsteps of scholars such as Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil. Our goal will be identifying and analyzing common elements of mythical language, primarily focusing on Indo-European heritage. By the end of the  semester we will have learnt how to study and describe these phenomena according to academic standards, and how to communicate our ideas clearly and comprehensively in papers and presentations.
Same as Classic 170
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

No description is currently available.