introduction to the subject

Thursday, September 15, 2022 2:02 PM

religion is important to study to

- Identify different religions
- Understand their cultures, practices, behaviors, and more
- To have prior knowledge about approaching the topic
- Practice the ability of being more open-minded about people and religions

religious literacy - appreciation of every process and part of a religion.

to distinguish and identify religious and to understand beliefs and the modern world

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misunderstandings of religion:
1. religious traditions and practices are uniform; wrong,
religions are internally diverse
2. religions are dependent and stuck in the past; wrong,
religions change through time. they get interpreted and reinterpreted differently by their
own believers.
3. religions function in isolation from political, cultural, and economic
contexts; wrong, there is no true separation between the church and the state

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cultural studies
Monday, October 3, 2022 10:18 AM

What is Culture?

- Shared meanings and experiences we encounter and make.

- Practices and processes of making meanings with and from the 'texts' (= =Latin; “weave”)
[texts could be anything]

- Ensemble of beliefs and practices, things we think and things we do.

- "Function as a pervasive technology of control, a set of limits within which social behavior
must be contained, a repertoire of models to which individuals must conform"

What is Greenblatt's definition of culture?

“The ensemble of beliefs and practices that form a given culture function as a pervasive
technology of control, a set of limits within which social behavior must be contained”

What is cultural studies?

- Demystifying , understanding the function of a culture

General Goals of cultural studies:

= "bringing heightened attention to the beliefs and practices implicitly enforced by particular
literary acts of praising and blaming" (Greenblatt, "Culture" 226)

= to understand "the multiple ways in which identities are formed, experienced and transmitted"
(Culler, Literary 43)

How do texts work in culture?

- By "implicitly enforc[ing]" "beliefs and practices"

- By articulating or expressing "cultural codes of behavior" in an active and passive

"process of acculturation"

- Not only reflects, but it also helps to shape, articulate, and reproduce those codes, beliefs,
and practices
.
- Processes of praising and blaming, containing, and excluding, or reinforcing, are often
passive, indirect or implied.

How do you do cultural studies? = By asking questions.

Examples:

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