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Brandeis University
Department of Sociology

SOC 127a
Spring 2013

Gods and Nations: Identity in Global Politics

Prof. Chandler Rosenberger Office Hours:

(781)-736-2638 Monday, 2-4; Tues. 10-Noon
crosen@brandeis.edu Mandel 106
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Course Description
In the twentieth century God seemed to be dead – at least politically. Class and nation were the
icons of a secular age. But then came rumblings. An Islamic Revolution in Iran. Catholics in
Poland denouncing Communist rule. Finally, Sept. 11th and an apparent new era of militant
faith. Now we must reconsider: what are the touchstones of modern political identity?

SOC 127a, “Gods and Nations,” examines three identities influential in global affairs -- religion,
ethnicity and nationalism -- and the tensions and ties among them.

Learning Goals The class is divided into two sections. In this first section students will read
theoretical literature on the social role of religion (considering the ideas of six major sociologists
of religion) and on the nature of nationalism (in which we consider the ideas of eight important
theorists of nationalism, including Weber, Gellner, Anderson and Greenfeld).

The study of religion's social role will focus on the "secularization thesis" and its critics.
Students will explore the functional role that religion played in medieval Europe and the
Ottoman Empire. The class will then read the most influential articulation of the secularization
thesis -- Peter Berger's The Sacred Canopy -- and consider how well this thesis accounts for the
secularization of Western European politics.

The theoretical section of the class will also examine the nature of nationalism. Did nationalism
represent a fundamental break with the medieval "society of orders," or did modern nationalisms
gradually grow from the institutions of medieval societies? Are all nationalisms founded on
ethnic identity? If not, how do we draw distinctions between ethnic and non-ethnic
nationalisms? Are "religious nationalisms" in fact grounded in shared ethnicity rather than shared
religious faith? Is a "civic religious nationalism" possible?

In the second half of the class, students will consider societies in which religion, ethnicity and
nationalism comprise elements of identity in different ways. Having considered the rise of
secular nationalism in Western Europe, students will have the chance to look at examples from
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parts of the world where societies are not as decidedly secular.

It is hoped that these examples will give students evidence from the historical record to use in
seeking answers to questions raised and sharpened in the first section of the class.

Course Requirements & Grading

The course is designed in combination lecture-seminar format. The course design is meant to
allow students to master the subject-matter through a combination of lectures, classroom
discussion and research for a final paper.

The grade composition of the course is as follows: class participation, including participation in
working groups (20%); two take-home tests (25% each); final research paper (30%).

Here are the important dates:

• The first take-home test will be distributed on Feb. 8 and will be due on Feb. 14;
• The second take home test will be distributed on April 11 and will be due on April 17;
• The final paper will be due at my office by 4 pm on May 3. Please bring a hard copy.

Please note that the grade for class participation includes both regular and timely attendance, as
well as demonstrated preparation of the reading assignments. In other words, the grade for class
participation does not simply rely on regular attendance, but is based on the expectation that
students will participate regularly in class discussions in order to demonstrate preparation of the
readings through the capacity to critically analyze and apply the readings to broader discussions
that draw on course readings and contemporary discussions.

Please also note that this class will feature working groups, modeled on research teams in the
Department of State, that will present studies of contemporary potential points of conflict over
religious and political issues. Policymakers have been surprised time and again by the
vehemence of religious sentiment: we hope to learn how to incorporate an understanding of these
issues into our understanding of world affairs.

Final Research Paper

Students are required to write a final research paper. The paper should be between 15-20 pages
in length, using double space, 12-point font, and one-inch margins on top, bottom, left and right
of paper. Students are strongly encouraged to expand on one of the case studies considered in
class but may also write a comparative paper that brings what they have learned to bear on
another topic. Students are expected to describe clearly the relationship among identities of
religion, ethnicity and nationalism in their case studies and to analyze how those identities have
contributed to the construction of political agendas, especially global agendas.

Location and Availability of Course Materials

There are copies of each week’s readings in the course books or on the Latte web site. Students
may purchase the course books at the Brandeis bookstore or from an online seller such as
Amazon.com. Those books are:
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Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy. (Anchor Books, 1990).

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan Between Mosque and Military (Carnegie Endowment, 2005).

John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, eds. Nationalism. Oxford UP, 1994. (Part of
the Oxford Readers series).

Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival. (Norton, 2007).

Genevieve Zubrzycki, The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-

Communist Poland. (Chicago, 2006).

Absences and Late Work

Class participation is a large part of the overall grade and students should be fully prepared for
each week’s class. Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to submit work on a
timely basis, unless documentation is given excusing an absence or late submission for medical,
religious or personal reasons, or for official university business. Late assignments will be
penalized by a half-letter grade deduction per day late.

Academic Honesty
Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University.
Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments
specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of
another person – be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner –without proper
acknowledgement of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to
indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes,
on the internet, or created by another student.

Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section 3 of “Rights and

Responsibilities,” may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in
suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in
this course, you must ask for clarification.
University Policy on Academic Accommodations
If you are a student who has academic accommodations because of a documented disability,
please contact me and give me a copy of your letter of accommodation in the first two weeks of
the semester. If you have questions about documenting a disability, please contact Beth Rodgers-
Kay in the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Office (x63470, brodgers@brandeis.edu).
Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
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COURSE OF STUDY AND READINGS

Week One: Religious Nationalism: A New Cold War?

Jan 14 Introduction

Jan 16 Mark Juergensmeyer. “Introduction: the Rise of Religious Nationalism,”

in Mark Juergensmeyer, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism
Confronts the Secular State (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,
1993): 1-25. (Latte)

Jan 18 Essays of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri (Latte)

Week Two: Religion and the Social Order

Jan. 21 Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System,” (pp. 87-125 in Geertz,

The Interpretation of Cultures, Harper Books, 1973). (Latte)

Jan. 23 Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy, (Doubleday, 1962) Chapter 1.

Jan. 24 Berger, The Sacred Canopy, (Doubleday, 1962) Chapter 2.

Week Three: Religion and the Medieval Social Order

Jan. 28 Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism, pp. 78-85; 104-115. (Latte)

Marc Bloch, Feudal Society. U Chicago Press [1961]. Ch. 5 (Latte)

Jan. 30 Max Weber, “The Nation,” (pp. 21-25 in Hutchinson and Smith, Nationalism).
Walker Connor, “A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is an Ethnic Group...” (pp. 36-
46 in Hutchinson and Smith, Nationalism).

Elie Kedourie, “Nationalism and Self-Determination,” (pp. 49-55 in Hutchinson

and Smith, Nationalism).

Jan 31 Anthony D. Smith, “The Origins of Nations,” (pp. 147-154 in Hutchinson and
Smith, Nationalism).

Ernest Gellner, “Nationalism and Modernization” and “Nationalism and High

Cultures”) (pp. 55-70 in Hutchinson and Smith, Nationalism).
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Week Four: Theories of Secularization

Feb. 4 Karl Marx, “The German Ideology,” in Robert Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels
Reader (Norton, 1972). You need only read pp. 148-155. (Latte)

Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy, Chapters 5 & 6 (pp. 105-153).

Feb. 6: Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and

Spread of Nationalism (Verso Publishing, 1991): Chapters 2 & 3 (pp. 9-46).
(Latte)

Feb. 8 Liah Greenfeld, “Nationalism and Modernity,” in Nationalism and the Mind:
Essays on Modern Culture. (Oneworld Publishing: Oxford, 2006). pp. 64-92.
(Latte)

Liah Greenfeld. “Nationalism: The Modern Religion?” Nationalism and the

Mind: Essays on Modern Culture. (Oneworld Publishing: Oxford, 2006). pp. 93-
114. (Latte)

First take home distributed.

Week Five: Doubts about the Secularization Theory

Feb. 11 Jose Casanova, “Secularization, Enlightenment, and Modern Religion,” pp. 11-39
in Public Religions in the Modern World. (Latte)

Feb. 13 Peter L. Berger, “The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview,” in

Peter L. Berger, ed., The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and
World Politics (Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1999): 1-18.
(Latte)

Feb. 14: Discussion. First take home collected.

Feb 18-22 FEBRUARY BREAK

SECTION TWO. Testing Theories: Historical Examples

Week Six: Catholicism and Polish Nationalism

Feb. 25 S. Prothero, God Is Not One: "Christianity"

Feb. 27 G. Zubrzycki. The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in

Post-Communist Poland. U. Of Chicago Press, 2006. Introduction, Ch. 1 & 2

Feb. 28 Zubrzycki. The Crosses of Auschwitz. Chapters 3 & 4, conclusion

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Week Seven: The Ottoman Empire, Serbia and Turkey

March 4 Prothero, "Islam."

Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans, 18th and 19th Centuries. (Cambridge
UP, 1983). pp. 39-62, 88-95, 139-150.

March 6 Justin McCarthy, The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923. (Pearson,
1997). Ch. 6, "Imperialism and Nationalism." (Latte).

Tim Judah, The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (Yale
UP, 1997). Ch. 2 & 3.. (Latte)

March 7 Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History. (NYU Press, 1998). Ch. 4, “The Battle
and the Myth.” (Latte)

Week Eight: Serbia and Turkey, Cont.

March 11 Kemalism. (Latte).

March 13 Hakan Yilmaz, "Islam, Sovereignty, and Democracy: A Turkish View." Middle
East Journal, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Summer, 2007), pp. 477-493

Michael J. Koplow and Steven A. Cook, "The Turkish Paradox: How the AKP
Simultaneously Embraces and Abuses Democracy," Foreign Affairs, June 27,
2012.

March 14 First Presentation by Working Groups

Week Nine: Iran

March 18 Nasr, The Shia Revival, Ch. 1 & 2.

March 20: The Pahlavis and the Creation of Iranian Nationalism

Ali Gheissari and Vali Nasr, Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for
Liberty, (Oxford, 2006), Ch. 1 (Latte)

March 21 Ali M. Ansari, Modern Iran Since 1921: The Pahlavis and After (Longman,
2003). Chapters 3 & 4. (Latte)

Richard W. Cottam, Nationalism in Iran. (U. of Pitt Press, 1979). Ch. 10. (Latte)
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March 25-April 2 SECOND BREAK

Week Ten: Iran Continued

April 3: The Islamic Revolution in Iran

Nasr, The Shia Revival. Chapter 4.

Ayatollah Khomeini. Islam and Revolution. (trans. By Hamid Algar) (Berkeley:

Mizan Press, 1981). “A Warning to the Nation,” pp. 169-173; “The Granting of
Capitulatory Rights to the U.S” pp. 181-188. (Latte)

April 5 Sena Karasipahi, "Comparing Islamic Resurgence Movements in Turkey and

Iran," Middle East Journal, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Winter, 2009), pp. 87-107.

Nasr, Ch. 8.

Selected readings from Ayatollah Montazeri (Latte)

Week Eleven: Religion and Nationalism in India and Pakistan

April 8 Hinduism and Indian Nationalism

Prothero, "Hinduism."

John Keay, India: A History (Oxford UP, 2000). Ch. 18-19. (Latte)

April 10 The Partition of Pakistan

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan Between Mosque and Military (Carnegie Endowment,

2005). Ch. 1 & 3

April 11 Second Presentation of Working Groups

Second Take Home Distributed

Week Twelve: Religion and Nationalism in India and Pakistan

April 15: Pakistan as Islamic Republic

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan Between Mosque and Military, Ch. 4 & 5

April 16: Pakistan as Magnet for Extremists

Haqqani, Pakistan Between Mosque and Military 7, 8

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April 17 Hindu Nationalism?

Maria Mirsa, Vishnu’s Crowded Temple: India Since the Great Rebellion. (Yale
2007). Ch. 8 (Latte)

Second Take Home Collected.

Week Thirteen: Buddhism and Nationalism in Sri Lanka and Burma

April 22 Prothero, Buddhism.

April 24 Burma

Christina Fink, "The Moment of the Monks: Burma, 2007," in Civil Resistance
and Power Politics (Oxford UP, 2011).

Josef Silverstein, "The Idea of Freedom in Burma and the Political Thought of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," Pacific Affairs, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp.
211-228.

William McGowan, "Aung San Suu Kyi's Buddhism Problem," Foreign Policy,
Sept. 12, 2012.

Week Fourteen Buddhism, cont.

April 29 Sri Lanka

William McGowan, "Buddhists Behaving Badly: What Zealotry is Doing to Sri

Lanka." Foreign Affairs, August 2, 2012.

May 1 Final Discussions

May 5 Final Paper Due, 4 pm