RE644
Interpreting Asian Religions and Cultures
0.5 Credit

This course exposes participants to major issues in the academic interpretation of Asian religions and cultures. By engaging with methods and theories for the study of Asian religions, culture, literature, history and society, participants develop an understanding of the history of fields of Asian studies, investigate critical methods applied to Asian sources, and engage with contemporary debates. reading address mutual encounters between outside interpreters of Asian religious cultures and dynamic responses from within, elucidate possibilities and limitations of cross-cultural dialogue, and challenge deeply embedded ideological biases and constructions of alterity. Themes and topics include re-evaluation of Orientalism, assessment of universalist assumptions of the 'World Religions' model, and alternative approaches to Asian religions, literary cultures and history in current scholarship.