Courses

EALL/RS 235
Genres of Asian Religious Writing

Spring 2007 / MW 1:20 pm / 6104 Social Science

Description | Content | Writing Requirements | Rationale | Expression and Debasement | Texts |
Grading | Writing Guidelines | Writing Assignments| Class Meetings/Assignments/Readings

Description

Religious Studies 235 is an introduction to the forms that writers in Asia have used to express religious ideas and experience, and a class that seeks to help students learn to express their own ideas and experience. The course is composed of an introductory overview and readings from primary sources from four distinct genres (tale and history, compact expression, calendars and almanacs, and commentary). Reading texts in these genres provides both a selective introduction to Asian religious literature, and an opportunity to explore distinctive approaches to expression.

This is also a writing-intensive course that aims to develop an understanding of the subject matter through guided writing assignments that explore the significance of genre. The course requires 30 pages of writing with an emphasis on the revision process, as well as a five minute oral presentation. Because of its emphasis on writing and revision, the course satisfies the Comm-B requirement. Religious Studies 235 is offered for three credits only, and in Spring 2006 meets Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:20 p.m. in SOC SCI 6104, and Fridays in section at 9:55, 11, 2:25 and 3:30.

 
Content

Students will read several Asian religious classics in depth (i.e., Analects, Ramayana, The Way of the Bodhisattva) and also shorter primary and secondary sources. Students will have a little less than 100 pages of reading over an average week. The content of the course is not organized according to traditional categories like culture and sect, and the goal is not to cover all nations and religions comprehensively. The course instead will focus on select sets of texts with similar structures and vocabularies. Students will focus on the interaction between textual form and content, and on the question of whether genre exerts a determining effect on content, or whether it is simply a vessel into which content is poured.

 
Writing Requirements

Some of the writing assignments will require the student to experiment in a particular genre, and others to write an analytical paper about religious texts. There will be a total of three long (four to six page) written assignments, two of which will require the submission of rough drafts to be revised according to comments. After the rough drafts of the first two long written assignments, each student will have an individual conference with their section leader. There will also be five short assignments.

 
Rationale

By paying attention to distinctions between genres, rather than those between religions and sects, the introductory student avoids the impression that Asian religious traditions developed independently from each other and were exclusive in the same sense as some modern American sects. Instead of teaching the major "religions" separately and mentioning instances of syncretism (the combination of different forms of belief), the course begins with the assumption that many structures of religious expression in Asia have common features. For example, instead of teaching hagiography (stories of the lives of saints) several times under the heading of different religions, the category of stories is treated as a whole, and formal commonalities between examples from different traditions are emphasized. A literary approach also downplays the significance of boundaries that have been imposed by modern nationhood and academic discipline in a way that better reflects the situation during the pre-modern period.

 
Expression and Debasement

Talking about religion is tricky at a public university, but that should not mean that it must become a taboo subject. The University of Wisconsin has very specific language about what kind of speech should be avoided in this context. Following this policy, students should avoid expressions that "clearly derogate and debase a student or students in the class on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability." At the same time, it is important to note that students should also tolerate opinions about the historical or contemporary consequences of religious or political positions when expressed in a way that is not derogatory towards others. Students uncomfortable with either of these policies should not take this course.

 
Texts

Required:

1. R. K. Narayan, trans. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993)

2. D.C. Lau, trans. The Analects (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979)

3. Padmakara Translation Group, trans., The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyavatara (Boston: Shambhala, 1997)

4. The Dalai Lama, Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1997)

5. John Nelson, A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine. (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1996)

6. Daniel Gardner, Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Classical Tradition ( New York: Columbia University Press, 2003)

7. RS 235 Course Reader

Recommended:

8. Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed.

Grading

Exams (2@10%) 20%

Short assignments (5@5%) 25%

Long writing assignments (3@15%) 45%

Lecture Attendance 5%

Section Participation 5%

Exams: The first exam covers the content of units I and II. The second exam covers the contents of units III and IV. They will cover the content of lectures and readings through multiple choice and short answer questions.

Attendance and participation: In lecture, a sign-up sheet will be posted.

Writing Assignments: All writing assignments must be turned in as hard copies. Attachments will not be accepted.

Grade appeal policy: Grades may be appealed to the main instructor if the student has reread the assignment, has appealed to the section leader, and is aware that his or her grade can go up or down.

Writing Guidelines

There are two types of writing in this course, long analytical essays (a genre in itself) and shorter "in genre" essays. Below I describe some of the excellences associated with these types of writing.

 An analytical essay requires an argument that develops into a thesis of demonstrated significance. "Argument" means that the thesis should not simply be described, as an object in a still life, but should be presented as if it were a controversial point. Possible opposing points of view should be at least implicitly anticipated, and the writer should present reasonable arguments supporting her position. "Develops" refers to the way the thesis should progress (similar to the way that a convincing argument builds in good oral communication.) "Thesis" differs from "topic." An essay should never simply be a treatment of an assigned topic, rather it should develop a thesis within the scope of the assigned topic. A writer is usually better off taking a little liberty with the topic than restricting herself to an unoriginal exposition. Finally, "significance" means that the writer should explain why the thesis might be interesting or important. This does not mean that you have to say "Asian religions are much cooler than Scientology" (whether or not that is the case) but rather that you should look carefully at the issues at stake in your thesis and explain what the reader might take away from your essay.

 Writing "in genre" requires that the writer first understand the conventions of the genre. This includes the formal characteristics (e.g., rhyme, structure, level of formality), the range of content, and the style of the available examples. Since the examples were written within a religious tradition, the writer has to choose whether to assume the voice of a person with that worldview (in which case adopting a pseudonym might be useful) or try to translate the genre into her own worldview. In either case, the object of these assignments is to encourage the writer to use imagination to express herself within the limitations dictated by the conventions of the particular genre. "Imagination" means creatively occupying the space of others, but also imagining having different values and writing to express them. The "limitations" of genre restrict the writer's options, but, as with every set of conventions, also make subtle variations more significant because they are implicitly in dialogue with other examples of the genre.

Drafts: For two of the major papers, polished drafts must be turned in. The first will be read by the section leader and the main instructor. The second draft will be read by the section leader and anonymously by a classmate, who will suggest revisions as one of the minor writing assignments. Rough drafts will get a provisional grade, but the only the grade of the final draft will count as the paper's grade. If a draft is not turned in, however, the grade of the paper will fall by one letter grade. Rewrites are not normally allowed, although drafts will be read of all three major written assignments.

Plagiarism: Since this is a writing course, allowing students to plagiarize would be silly. If you go to the Writing Center (always a good thing), if you have a friend read over your work and comment on it, if a book or a website has influenced your view or provided information you use in a paper, then note it adequately. For more on this topic, and on writing in general, see www.wisc.edu/writing

Late policy: In a class this large, dealing with late papers can quickly use up all the time and energy of the section leaders. This affects their ability to do their job (and they are not paid that well to start with). For this reason, they are under strict instructions to penalize all papers that are more than twenty-four hours late. The penalty is a full grade per twenty-four hours past the time the paper is due.

 
Writing Assignments

Long writing assignment one draft due 2/16, final due 3/2

A narrative like Ramayana portrays characters reacting to different situations in ways that illustrate their particular virtues and vices so as to describe a set of ethical norms. In a 1000 word essay, first choose a specific figure in that text and describe his or her exemplary characteristics. Then consider whether these characteristics might be usefully adapted to modern society as a way of addressing the more general question of whether it possible to translate virtues and vices from a traditional society into another rather different social context.

Long writing assignment two draft due 4/13, final due 4/20

In a 1500 word essay, contrast the "insider" view of a practice or doctrine in a particular tradition (that is, where people inside the tradition say it came from, and why they say they do it or believe in it) with an explanation from an "outsider" perspective (either your own or someone else's). What is the crux of the disagreement? Please also consider the question: to the extent that insiders and outsiders describe the practice or doctrine in different ways, does this difference in description end up in part generating the contrast between insider and outsider views of its origins and function?

Nota bene: For this assignment, you should spend at least two hours in the library gathering information on the understanding of the practice or doctrine in its original cultural context. Please also turn in two copies of your draft, one with a name on it, and one with only an ID number on it, making it possible for a classmate to do an anonymous peer review for their Short writing assignment three.

Long writing assignment three due 5/16

In 1000 words, compare an analytical essay about a section of the Analects or Way of the Bodhisattva that might be written in this class to a commentary to that same text written in the tradition. Do the generic conventions of the analytical essay commit its author to a different worldview than a genre used by someone inside the tradition?

Short assignment one due 2/2

Choose a character in the Ramayana that appeals to you in some way, and write a short narrative that illustrates the character's particular virtues in a contemporary situation. The 500 word essay should use the formal conventions of the genre.

Short assignment two due 3/9

Take an activity that is important to you and reduce your thoughts on how to do it well to a 500 word poetry or prose compact expression text. Consider the potential oral dimension of many compact expression texts, and try to adhere to the some of the resulting conventions of the genre.

Short assignment three due 3/16

Bring notes on effective frames and arguments to use in making an oral presentation of two minutes in either the voice of Confucius or Shantideva, making a critique of the other’s moral system.

Short assignment four due 4/13

Prepare and rehearse a two minute oral presentation introducing the thesis of the draft of your long assignment two to present to your classmates. Make sure to rehearse your presentation, since if it goes over two minutes, it will go down one grade.

Short assignment five due 4/18

Read and comment (500 words) on your classmate's rough draft. Using the "Guidelines for writing analytical papers" above, provide helpful (critical but constructive!) comments that will help your classmate revise the paper, adhering to the conventions of the "instructor's comments" genre.

Nota bene: Please turn in two copies, only one of which should have your name. Make sure to put the ID# of the author of the paper you are critiquing on your assignment.

 
Class Meetings/Assignments/Readings

Introduction: Genre and the writing of religions

• Monday, January 22, 2007
Lecture: Kinds of writing about religion

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I. Historia: tale and history

• Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Lecture: Overview of South Asian Religious Traditions

Overview of South Asian Religious Traditions; Richard H. Davis, "The Question of Hinduism" in Asian Religions in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999): 9-11; Patrick Olivelle, trans. "Katha Upanisad" from Upanisads (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996): 231-247.

• Friday, January 26, 2007
Section: First impressions of Ramayana

 Ramayana , pp. 3-34.

• Monday, January 29, 2007
Lecture: The universe of Ramayana

Ramayana , pp. 3 5-95.

• Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Lecture: Rama as a religious ideal

Ramayana , pp. 97-160.

• Friday, February 2, 2007
Section: Virtues and Vices
Short assignment one due

Ramayana , pp. 161-171; Jonah Blank, "Illusion" in Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India (New York: Doubleday, 1992): 149-165.

• Monday, February 5, 2007
Lecture: Contemporary echoes of the Ramayana

A. K. Ramanujan, “Three Hundred Ramayanas” in Many Ramayanas: The diversity of a narrative tradition in South Asia. Paula Richman, ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 22-49.

 • Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Lecture: Children’s versions of the Ramayana

 Karline McLain. “Sita and Shurpanakha: Symbols of the Nation in the Amar Chitra Katha Comic Book” in Manushi 122 (Jan-Feb 2001), pp. 32-39; John Stratton Hawley. “The Saints Subdued: Domestic Virtue and National Integration in Amar Chitra Katha” in Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia. Lawrence A. Babb & Susan S. Wadley, eds. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995, pp. 107-134.

 • Friday, February 9, 2007
Section: Race, caste, and gender

W. L. Smith, "Ethical Revision" in Ramayana Traditions in Eastern India (Stockholm: University of Stockholm, 1988): 78-99.

 • Monday, February 12, 2007
Library Visit (Meet in Memorial Library 126)

Richard A. Lanham "Who's Kicking Who?" and "Sentences and Shopping Bags" in Revising Prose (New York: Scribner's, 1979): 1-24.

• Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Lecture: Writing in genre, writing about genre

Richard A. Lanham, “The Official Style” and “ The School Style” in Revising Prose (New York: Scribner’s, 1979): 56-102.

• Friday, February 16, 2007
Section: Using comments and revising
Draft of long writing assignment one due

No reading, draft due

• Monday, February 19, 2007
Lecture: Ghost stories in East Asia

Pu Songling (trans. Mair) "Nie Xiaoqian" in Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989): 90-102; Ueda Akinari (trans. Hamada), "Bewitched," in Ugetsu Monogatari: Tales of Moonlight and Rain (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972): 20-52.

• Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Lecture: Ghost stories in Southeast Asia

Religions of Southeast Asia; Kamala Tiyavanich, from Forest Recollections: Wandering monks in 20th century Thailand (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), pp. 96-105, 123-126, 202-213; E.W. Cawell, ed. “Nalapana Jataka” from The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905), pp. 54-56; Nicholas Tapp, “Hmong Religion” Asian Folklore Studies 48.1 (1989): 21-30;

• Friday, February 23, 2007
No section , short meetings with section leader (between draft and final version) scheduled in section on 2/16 class

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II. Compact expression

• Monday, February 26, 2007
Lecture: Form and meaning in compact religious expression

Frank Burch Brown, “Poetry: Poetry and Religion” in Encyclopedia of Religion, 2e. ( New York: Gale, 2005): 7203-7209; Nizari Quhistani (trans. F. M. Hunzai) "The Virtue of Ma'rifa" in Shimmering Light: An Anthology of Ismaili Poetry (London: Tauris, 1997): 87; Analects 59-100.

• Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Lecture: Confucius: Teaching in dialogue

Mark Csikszentmihalyi, "Confucius" in Freedman and McClymond, eds. The Rivers of Paradise ( Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001): 233-308.

• Friday, March 2, 2007
Section: Recitations
Final draft of long writing assignment one due

No reading, paper due

 • Monday, March 5, 2007
Lecture: The Analects

Analects 101-160.

• Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Lecture: Confucianism Today

 Jonathan Watts, “ China’s president borrows from Confucius” Guanrdian Weekly (3/31-4/6. 2006), p. 12; Martin Collcutt, “The Legacy of Confucianism in Japan” in G. Rozman, ed. The East Asian Region: Confucian Heritage and Its Modern Adaptation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991, pp. 111-154.

 • Friday, March 9, 2007
Section: Buddhism and the Way of the Bodhisattva
Short assignment two due

Peter Harvey, "Buddhist Practice: Devotion" from An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990): 170-195; Way of the Bodhisattva, pp. 27-61 and 162-170.

• Monday, March 12, 2007
Lecture: Shantideva

Way of the Bodhisattva , pp. 62-77, 98-137.

• Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Lecture: Buddhism and Violence

Way of the Bodhisattva , pp. 78-97 ; Eisai “Zen for National Defence” in Buddhist Scriptures, Don Lopez, ed. ( New York: Penguin, 2004): 318-328.

• Friday, March 16, 2007
Section: Comparing the Analects to the Way of the Bodhisattva
Short assignment three due

 Peter Harvey, "Buddhist Ethics" from An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990): 196-216; Mark Csikszentmihalyi “Differentiations in Chinese Ethics” in The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics ( Malden: Blackwell, 2005), pp. 381-394.

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III. Calendars and Almanacs

• Monday, March 19, 2007
Exam #1 (covering Modules I and II)

• Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Lecture: Sacred Time

Mircea Eliade, “Sacred Time and Myths” in The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion. (New York: Harcourt, 1957), pp. 68-113; A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine, 3-33

• Friday, March 24, 2007
Section: Japanese Religion and Society

 H. Byron Earhart. “The Dynamics of Japanese Religion” in Religions of Japan. (New York: HarperCollins, 1984), pp. 101-126; A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine, 34-76

• Monday, March 26, 2007
Lecture: Spring and Summer

A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine , 77-132

• Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Lecture: Fall and Winter

A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine , 77-167.

• Friday, March 30, 2007
Section: The Calendar: Time and Space

Sokyo Ono, “Worship and Festivals” in Shinto: The Kami Way (Rutland: Tuttle, 1962), pp. 50-71; “The Yellow Emperor’s Poem of the Four Seasons” from T’ung Shu: The Ancient Chinese Almanac (Boston: Shambhala, 1986), pp. 75-87; Svend Hvass, “Ise: The Sun Shrine” in Japanese Religions Past & Present, ed. Reader, et al. (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1993), pp. 80-84.

• Monday, April 2, 2007 - Friday, April 6, 2007
No classes: Spring Recess

• Monday, April 9, 2007
Lecture: The Question of Shintô

A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine , 168-225.

• Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Lecture: Sacred Time: A Religious Universal?

Daniel Pals, “The Reality of the Sacred” in Seven Theories of Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 158-197.

• Friday, April 13, 2007
Section: Spring Festivals
Draft of long writing assignment two due – Turn in TWO copies, both with your ID# instead of your name!
Short assignment four due

No reading, draft due

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IV. Commentary

• Monday, April 16, 2007
Lecture: Readings and misreading
Pick up draft of long writing assignment two from section leader

John B. Henderson, "Commentarial Assumptions" in Scripture, Canon, and Commentary (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991): 89-138.

• Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Lecture: Commentary, creativity and innovation
Short writing assignment three due – Turn in TWO copies, both with your ID# instead of your name!

 John B. Henderson, "Commentarial Strategies" in Scripture, Canon, and Commentary (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991): 139-199.

• Friday, April 20, 2007
No section , short meetings with section leader (between draft and final version) scheduled in section on 4/13 class.

• Monday, April 23, 2007
Lecture: Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism

Zhu Xi’s Reading of the Analects , 1-51

• Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Lecture: Zhu Xi’s commentary on Analects

 Zhu Xi’s Reading of the Analects , 52-105

• Friday, April 27, 2007
Section: Interpreting comments
Final version of long writing assignment two due

No reading, paper due

• Monday, April 30, 2007
Lecture: Benevolence and Patience

Healing Anger , 1-33

• Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Lecture: The Dalai Lama’s Reading of the Way of the Bodhisattva

 Healing Anger , 35-71

• Friday, May 4, 2007
Section: Commentary in modern life

Healing Anger , 73-144

• Monday, May 7, 2007
Exam # 2 (covering Modules III and IV)

• Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Lecture: Reflections on Genre
Draft outline of long writing assignment three due (optional!)

 No reading

• Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Final version of long writing assignment three due by 5 pm

(NB: There is no final exam)