Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Grading structure:
1) Blog and Class Engagement: 30% (15% for doing it and 15% for quality).
Each week’s engagement is worth 3% of your final class grade. Your blog post serves as
the justification for our 4th credit hour. We will have a total of 10 blog posts. The 15% for
quality is measured by the extent to which your discussions on and off-line thoughtfully
engage with the readings. In order to get full credit, you must specifically cite some
portion of the readings in your blog post. The other 15% comes just for attending class
and putting up something related to our weekly topic. You can post under a pseudonym if
want; just make sure I know who you are so I can give you credit.
One post can simply say "I'm sorry I got overwhelmed this week and cannot post" and
still earn full credit. You can respond to other students' posts, but please do this on your
own post and not as a comment on someone else’s post. You can ask questions or say that
you don't understand some part of the reading. If you ask me a direct question in a post, I
will respond to it on the forum. Just post something. Posts are due by midnight on
Wednesday so that I have time to read them and prepare for our discussion on Thursday.
Late posts get half credit if they're done within 2 weeks of when they were due.
The Honor Code is in effect at all times in this class, including for blog posts.
1
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday from noon to 1pm or by appointment
Late Policy:
If you do not ask me for an extension, I will deduct 1% from your final grade on an essay
for each day it is late. This is a hard and fast policy. If you would like an extension,
please send me a ridiculous excuse. It can be a story about how an alien in a blue
telephone booth whisked you away to the far corners of the universe, an account of how
mutant dinosaurs devoured your computer, or anything else you fancy. It can be short and
you can ask for the extension on midnight the day the essay is due if you need to. Just
talk to me and try not to worry.
Texts:
Many of our readings will be selections from longer works. I will post these readings on
Moodle. All readings are due the day they are listed; we will discuss them in class.
Required:
Sells, Michael, trans. Approaching the Qur’an. Second Edition. Ashland, Oregon: White
Cloud Press, 2007.
Ganeri, Jonardon. The Concealed Art of the Soul: Theories of Self and Practices of Truth
in Indian Ethics and Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Course Schedule
January 16th: Go over the syllabus and talk about our guiding questions; listen to
recitations if we have time. Short in-class film clip: John Kerry on religion and the State
Department; River and Book talk about the Bible, “Janestown,” Firefly
Week Two:
2
January 28th: Introduction to the Qur’an
Reading Assignment: Sells, Approaching the Qur’an, “Introduction and
Glossary of Key Terms,” 1-40; Selected Suras: "The Opening" and "The Star," p.
42-47; "The Most High," p. 72-73; "The Dawn," 78-81; "The Ground," p. 82-83;
"The Laying Open," p. 92-93; "Destiny, Al-Qadr," 100-103; "The Epoch," 116-
117.
Week Three:
3
Week Five:
Week Six:
February 27th: What makes a tradition? How are there so many interpretations?
Reading Assignment: Ram-Prasad, “Multiplist Metaphysics and Ethics,” Indian
Philosophy and the Consequences of Knowledge, 1-50.
4
SPRING BREAK MARCH 10TH-14TH
Week Eight:
Week Nine:
March 25th: Classical Indian Aesthetic Theory and Sita Sings the Blues
Reading assignment: Gnoli, The Aesthetic Experience According to
Abhinavagupta, “Introduction,” XIV-LII
March 27th: Narrative: Hindu Epics (lecture focused on the Bhagavad Gita)
Reading Assignment: Selections from the Mahābhārata
***Hand out Unit III paper topic in class***
Week Ten:
5
***Unit III paper due Friday, April 4th by 11:59pm via Moodle***
Week Twelve:
Week Thirteen:
Week Fourteen:
6
May 1st: Questions about the Final Exam and Review