Overview
Empires in global history are large political and expansionist units (or with a memory of expansion) and maintain distinctions or hierarchy among people even as they incorporate them (Burbank/Cooper). Religion and other belief systems played a crucial role in governing empires, ranging from homogenization to accepting diversity – and even to both approaches or strategies in the same empire. The course approaches religion as a factor for identity formation, a justification for expansion or colonialism, a means of governance, a matter of negotiation or even hybridization, and a foundation for resilience or resistance in global empires. In this perspective, religion will be contextualized culturally and comparatively, ranging from the ancient period to present time developments.
Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of long-term global developments and describe the changing role of religion in global history and within changing societies;
- Analyze in particularly how religion shaped politics, culture, and societies in empires;
- Critically assess and compare the intersection of empire and religion in general; and
- Explain recent global developments from a historical perspective on religion and empires.
Terms
Evaluation
25% - Bi-weekly Quizzes (x5)
15% - Discussion Forums (3 of 5)
5% - Critical Analysis Paper: Outline
10% - Critical Analysis Paper: Final
20% - Midterm Exam
25% - Non-Proctored Final Exam
*Evaluation subject to change*
Textbook and Materials
There are three required textbooks for this course:
- Elizabeth Pollard, Clifford Rosenberg, and Robert Tignore, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. With Sources. Vol. 2 From 1000 CE to the Present. Concise 3rd edition. New York, W. W. Norton: 2021
- Tim Dowley eds., A Short introduction to world religion. 3rd edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press: 2018
- Stephen Howe, Empire: A very short introduction. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 2002
Time Commitment
Students in RELS 205 can expect to spend approximately 120 hours completing the course.