AP/ANTH 4320 3.00 Ethnographic Approaches in the Anthropology of Christianity
This course provides an in-depth examination of anthropological theories and ethnographic approaches in the Anthropology of Christianity. With a focus on ethnographic texts and films, students are challenged to think about the relationship between culture, power, and diverse kinds of Christianity in shaping gender, sexuality, kinship, social inequalities, social movements, ethical living, and political imaginations.
How are faith-based causes shaping people's identities, experiences, and worldviews? This course focuses on the diverse forms of Christian living by exploring the ways that Christians navigate work and faith, church and culture, and morality and temporality. We will explore the micropolitics inherent in church cultures from conservative Protestant churches, multicultural churches, to evangelical megachurches, in addition to the tension of living a Christian life in secular societies. We will consider the role of Christianity in institutionalizing structures of inequality, such as colonialism, settler colonialism, dispossession, and slavery. We will examine ethnographic methods that attune us to Christian experiences in being and becoming Christian and the challenges and debates of a shared humanity in spite of vast social and cultural differences. Finally, we will critically engage with Christian perspectives on conversion, miracles, scripture, and physical and spiritual wellbeing in negotiating the meaning of a good life and the afterlife.
Course Director (Winter 2025): L. Davidson - lmdavids@yorku.ca