Anthropology of Symbolic systems : Religion, Nature and Virtual Worlds

Teacher(s)

Servais Olivier;

Language

French

Main themes

Through lectures and reading exercise the course will encounter … Authors such as : Douglas, Hallowell, Turner, Gauchet, Lévi-strauss, De Certeau, Leenhardt, Van der Leeuw, Dumezil, Mali-nowski, Leach, Goody, Otto, Van Gennep, Descola, Viveiros de Castro, Bastide, Girard, Frazer. Following subject and concepts such as : Myth, mythology, ideology, ritual, the symbolic, the belief, the conversion, the religion, the religious, the sa-cred, the secularization, totemism, animism, naturalism, the magic, the sorcery, shamanism, phenomenological approaches, structuralism and symbolic functionalism.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the course : 1. the student will understand the main trends and great authors of symbolic systems anthropology. 2. the student will be able to develop a personal point of view about these trends.

Content

The course Methodology : 1. Lecture of introduction (first lesson) 2. Previous article readings 3. Collective analysis or presentations and feedback about reading exercise 4. Final lecture: conclusion and synthesis.

Teaching methods

Active pedagogy with strong student involvement. Each course uses a different didactic or pedagogical method. 

Evaluation methods

Students are evaluated on the basis of their participation and a final collective and individual work.

Other information

Pre-requisite : A first course in anthropology. Evaluation : Students' work will be appraised according to the jury system (cf. Master in Anthropology) Materials course : Texts portfolio will be distributed.

Online resources

A moodle support with all the texts needed. If the sanitary conditions require it, the course can be organized partly by distance learning.

Teaching materials

• PDF disponible sur moodle

Faculty or entity

PSAD