MA Religion, Politics and Society

The dissertation (10,000 words) will be a core component of the MA Religion, Politics and Society. The dissertation is intended both to extend and consolidate the student’s theoretical and regional understanding applied to prominent themes and debates in the field of religion.

The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within, secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion and the secular and the entangled relationship between them. This course will offer a comprehensive overview of the various debates around the nature of the secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere.

This module builds on the first term module ‘Religion and Global Politics: Theories and Genealogies’ in order to question dominant approaches to religion and politics. Taking a thematic approach, we will examine a range of topics where the seemingly self-evident division between religion and politics is subjected to critical, applied analysis that engages specifically with contexts, perspectives, and practices in the global south. Themes will include religion, sectarianism and democratisation processes, the relationship between religious discourses and political violence or conflict resolution, the legislative difficulties presented by contradictions in liberalist political principles that underpin the political systems of the global North and its models of multiculturalism, variant conceptions of state-religion relationships, the role of religion in identity politics, state responses to religious identity claims and priorities, free speech and blasphemy, and religious discrimination in the framework of international human rights discourses, amongst others

The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere and the domain of the political more generally in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship, eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state and the post-colony. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has apparently become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion, politics, and the secular and the entangled relationship between them.
This course will offer a comprehensive overview of these debates focusing particularly on theorisations of the nature of secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere as well as the genealogies of these debates in order to attend to the central issue of how the relationship between religion and politics is constituted, understood, and instantiated in a global context.

This module outlines the development of African Philosophy in the 20th century, a discourse that hinges on the following questions: does philosophy exist in Africa? What are the specific qualities that distinguish it from Western philosophy? We will survey the trends in African philosophical thought classified under the rubrics of ethnophilosophy", "nationalist-ideological philosophy", "sage philosophy", and "professional philosophy", and discuss specific concepts with philosophical reference or resonance, such as race, time, but also development or art. Several classes will be devoted to influential contemporary philosophers, in particular Paulin Hountondji, Kwame Anthony Appiah, V.-Y. Mudimbe, Henry Odera Oruka, and Kwasi Wiredu."

The module examines the early modern and contemporary reformulations of Islamic thought and practices in response to modern challenges (19th, 20th & 21st centuries). The module will begin by examining the nature of these challenges, and how modern Muslims responded to them. The module will identify the similarities and differences between the premodern and modern reformist movements throughout Muslim-majority societies, and how Muslims have reformulated foundational dimensions of Islamic jurisprudence and theology in their efforts to adapted to modern developments. The module will also examine?the main features and characteristics of the prominent trends in contemporary Islamic thought (Islamist, Salafi, Progressive and Neo-Traditionalist), highlighting similarities and differences between them in relation to how they engage with the authoritative texts (Qur’an & hadiths), as well as the diversity of expressions within these trends. The module will identify how these diverse modern reformulations and trends are based on criticisms of classical developments in Islamic thought and practices, and how they attempt to ‘reform’ (i?la?) these using different methodologies. The module will also emphasise how these modern reformulations invoke the classical Islamic legacy of renewal (tajdid) in different ways resulting in different modern understandings of ‘Islam’. The module aims to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding these modern Islamic trends, and this foundation underpins the subsequent examination of expressions of these trends in relation to particular themes in the module convened in term two: Modern Trends in Islam (ii): Manifestations.

This term 2 module builds on and follows from the term 1 module: Modern Trends in Islam (i): Foundations (Modern Trends in Islam (i): Foundations is a pre-requisite for the Modern Trends in Islam (ii): Manifestations). It examines how the diversity of reformulations in Islamic thought and practices by the different modern trends (Islamist, Salafi, Progressive and Neo-Traditional) are expressed with reference to different themes that are significant for contemporary Muslims (and non-Muslims). Building on the theoretical framework examined in the term 1 module, this term 2 module will examine in significant detail how modern Muslims develop different methodologies and theories that give rise to different responses to contemporary challenges. It will also explore that diversity of views within the trends themselves (i.e. diversity of views and methodologies within Salafism). Each week there will be an examination of how the different trends reformulate Islamic thought and practices in relation to the theme in question, but there will also be further focus on how a specific trend develop these reformulations (for example, concerning the theme of gender relations there will be an examination of how the different trends like Salafism, Neo-traditionalism and Islamism develop reformulations in Islamic jurisprudence in the lecture, but there will be focus on how Progressives develop different methodologies in response to the challenge of patriarchy in the lecture and tutorial). Students will be able to examine in detailed and evaluate the different trends within the framework of specific themes (themes like gender relations, violence and terrorism, democracy and human rights). The module will also examine the significance of neo-theological reformulations beyond the jurisprudential ones.

This course focuses on the development of yoga techniques and philosophy within the brahmanical and tantric traditions of ancient and early medieval India. It will consider the iconographic evidence from the Indus Valley civilisation and the oft-repeated argument that yogic postures and symbols are found there.

This is a thematic course on one aspect of the Buddhist tradition in East Asia, mainly China and Japan. The subject of the course may be different every year. The first topic to be analysed will be the esoteric tradition (mi-jao/mikkyo). In the following years other major systems of Buddhist thought, such as the Tiantai/Tendai and the Pure Land traditions, will be explored. The course will address the history of the selected tradition, its specific doctrinal tenets, its textual corpus and its major deities, and the forms of worship that characterize it. Attention will be devoted to the influence that the selected form of Buddhism exerted in the formation of the culture of China and Japan (with more emphasis given to Japan).

This module will offer a main narrative of Taoism as a recognisable tradition of religious ideas and practices throughout the history of China.

This module is designed to provide students with an understanding of key theoretical approaches to the interpretation of yoga and meditation. It will focus on the study of experience, while exploring categories of the emic and the etic, which provide accounts of cultural behaviour and belief from the standpoint of the insider and the outsider respectively.

The course explores the field of religions and development from both an epistemological and a vernacular angle. On the one hand, it applies a critical perspective on the epistemology of ‘religion’ and development’ in relation to western experience of imperialism, colonialism and secularisation, coupled with a look into the scholarly debate on religions and development since the 1950s to the present day. On the other hand, it explores specific issues emerging at the intersection of religious expression, lived faith and development in diverse societies of sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia. Topics explored throughout the course include: faith-based organisations and modes of community engagement, religious affiliation in politics and socio-economic inclusion, religious ‘fundamentalisms’ and issues of religious freedom in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies, and the engagement of religious beliefs in gender, development and law. The course will enable students to engage with a specific field of practice, in which to test and refine their ideas about religious beliefs, faith and society.

This course offers an advanced introduction to the history, doctrines, beliefs and practices of Buddhism in China. This thematic history will explore the transition from ‘Buddhism in China’ to the formation of ‘Chinese Buddhism’, and the emergence of its distinctive identity in the wider context of Buddhism as a cross-cultural religious tradition and Buddhism as an identity marker of Chinese culture.

This module examines the relationship between philosophical thought and religious practice. It is often assumed, without due interrogation, that philosophical insight springs from religious experience, that religion possesses the capacity to construe cognitive gateways through which philosophical understanding emerges. Thus, on the one hand, the module seeks to establish the soteriological dynamics that shape the processes leading to philosophical insight. On the other hand, it explores the ways in which philosophical systems shaped religions practice. These two areas of investigation focus on the experience of the individual. Third, the module maps the interconnections between communal religious practice in ritual and philosophical theory. It sets out the processes and stages through which philosophical structures emerge as a result of collective religions experience.

The course offers an introduction to yoga and meditation in the context of the Jaina path of liberation. The historical roots of contemporary Jaina practices of asceticism and meditation will be explored with reference to their metaphysical and soteriological rational and institutionalisation in Jaina mendicant and lay traditions in India and the UK.

The course begins by establishing the religion in a historical context starting with early Muslim migrations and settlement in Britain in the 19th century, through the various phases of subsequent migrations, to the institutionalising of Islam in Britain in the early twentieth century and the emergence of community leaders. Within this framework it will cover the different ethnic, sectarian and doctrinal approaches to Islam belonging to and/or adopted by migrants and second and third generation Muslims. The second part of the course will focus on particular issues that have arisen, uniquely, out of the above context and in response to world events.

This module addresses the issue of violence in the context of religious studies. It takes a multiperspectival approach studying insider and outsider perspectives on religious violence accross cultures and historical periods.
The module will provide insights into the complexity of violence, considering besides physical violence also violence in speech and intentions. It views violence as playing a key role in the development of belief systems, as wel as in the relationship between religions and the secular world. The module will introduce students to core concepts in the study of religion such as sacrifice, asceticism, purity and impurity, and blasphemy, and delve into ethical issues such as religious suicide, the question of just war, free speech and hierarchies of life within religious contexts. These topics have a long history in global societies and remain relevant today as religious opposition is emerging more clearly in connection with political processes in, for example, South Asia, the Middle East and the West.
The purpose of this module is to provide students with a sound and critical understanding of the relationship between religion and violence that does not necessarily consider religion as a cause of violence, but that also includes how religious epistemologies seek to limit, avoid and lessen violent practices. 

The study of esotericism is usually situated within specific geographical and cultural boundaries. Many of its expressions emerged in the 19th century, which, however, marked the height of European colonialism, and for this reason alone has a global dimension. This module proposes to study esotericism and its related currents under new lens. It engages with theoretical orientations and methodological challenges that characterise the academic study of esotericism since late 20th century. Recent debates that look at esotericism as a product of cultural entanglements are discussed in the context of global religious history, providing fresh perspectives on its transnational dimension.
The discussion of empirical cases from the Global South situates esotericism as an instance of modernity that goes beyond the Western interpretive framework as a marker of specificity. Trade networks and transnational organisations are studied as relational spaces where new expressions of esotericism emerged. In this vein, the adoption of a decolonial approach sheds light on those protagonists whose agency has been long neglected and informs the social and political domains of esotericism in modern society. The intersection of esotericism with nationalist movements, knowledge economy and networks of power is discussed from historical, anthropological and sociological perspectives.

This module gives an overview of the historical development of yoga in South Asia and maps the proliferation of its practice across its religious traditions. To begin with, it focuses on Vedic, epic, and classical textual accounts of yoga, and considers how Vedic elements of ritual and speculative poetry gradually adapted to new theoretical and philosophical frameworks to integrate into a systems of ‘classical’ practice. In the second part,  it moves to the Tantric and Ha?ha yoga traditions where it traces developments in postural yoga, meditation, subtle physiology, and metaphysics, as reflected in diverse Siddha, Saiva, Sakta, and Vai??ava communities.

This module explores major developments in thought, and the politics of knowledge, in the Islamic world since 1500. We emphasize reading our authors faithfully in their contexts; but unlike Islamic philosophy as frequently taught, we address the politics of knowledge in the modern world as well, approaching Islamic thinkers throughout history as dynamic interlocutors for us, not merely objects of historical study.

This module explores religion in Japan in its historical context, focusing on topics that are relevant for a critical understanding of the role of religion in shaping Japanese culture, society and politics.

This module explores religion in Japan in its contemporary context, focusing on topics that are relevant for a critical understanding of the role of religion in shaping Japanese culture, society and politics. 

This module examines the roles of yoga in the contemproray world. It addresses issues such as Gender, Race, Class, Power, Sexuality, Media, Identity  and New Age Societal Withdrawal as factors that emerge within, and shape modern yoga practice, both within the studio and in conception. The lectures and seminars set out to frame yoga as it is taught and practiced today within the values and societal forces that dominate present-day public disourse.

Zoroastrianism, known of old as ‘the Persian religion’, is one of the world’s most ancient living religions and one of Iran’s great contributions to the history of religious thought. It is deeply rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian and, ultimately, Indo-European tradition and thus shares a common heritage with the Vedic religion and Hinduism. In its long history it has been in contact with many other religions, notably Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. For over a thousand years it was the dominant religion of three great Iranian empires under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian rulers, extending at times from the Indus river to the coastline and islands of Asia Minor.
This course offers both a survey of the teachings, history and religious practice of the Zoroastrian tradition and in-depth analysis of individual aspects. Topics that will be studied in greater detail include issues of the contemporary community in a historical perspective.
Teaching happens in the form of a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar. Students will be asked to analyse and critique reading material on a weekly basis. Topics of the seminars will include the role of orality in Zoroastrian studies, theoretical and methodological approaches to Zoroastrian studies, and the links between Zoroastrianism and migration and diaspora studies.

Zoroastrianism, known of old as ‘the Persian religion’, is one of the world’s most ancient living religions and one of Iran’s great contributions to the history of religious thought. It is deeply rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian and, ultimately, Indo-European tradition and thus shares a common heritage with the Vedic religion and Hinduism. In its long history it has been in contact with many other religions, notably Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. For over a thousand years it was the dominant religion of three great Iranian empires under the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian rulers, extending at times from the Indus river to the coastline and islands of Asia Minor.
This course offers both a survey of the teachings, history and religious practice of the Zoroastrian tradition and in-depth analysis of individual aspects. Topics that will be studied in greater detail include issues of the contemporary community in a historical perspective.
Teaching happens in the form of a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar. Students will be asked to analyse and critique reading material on a weekly basis. Topics of the seminars will include the role of orality in Zoroastrian studies, theoretical and methodological approaches to Zoroastrian studies, and the links between Zoroastrianism and migration and diaspora studies.

This module takes research methods as philosophically and practically exciting techniques and attitudes that allow us to know and understand the world better. The material addresses the history and foundations of anthropological knowledge, and describes some of the key concepts in anthropological methodology by using 'ethnographic writing' as a guide. The module encourages self-reflexivity, ethical conduct, and an anticipatory awareness of research practice and design. We explore ideas such as participant observation, the field, fieldwork, fieldnotes, interviewing and the ways in which scales of knowledge (local and global) can be brought into conversation through well-thought through methodology.

What is migration? Is this the “age of migration”? What is Diaspora and what challenges do diasporic communities bring to modern political constructions such as the nation-state, national “imagined” communities, citizenship and their associated metaphysics of sedentarism? This course will explore these issues by critically engaging with the ways in which migration and diaspora have been understood historically and in modern and contemporary times. Different theories, approaches, and disciplinary angles will be introduced and discussed. We will also consider what de-colonising approaches to migration and diaspora might look like. By drawing on established and less charted bodies of work on migration studies, diaspora and identity, transnationalism, postcolonial and de-colonial studies the course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the emergence of diasporas, the reformulation of 'home' and the simultaneous instability and reinforcement of nation-states.

This course is intended to provide both an introduction to queer theory, as well as to engage with the question of its relevance in contemporary Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This course will use struggles for sexual self-determination as a prism through which to consider broader questions about the constitution of modernity, the proliferation of identities, rights and claims for justice, the consolidation and deconstruction of postcolonial national identities, the aspirations and anxieties of postcolonial elites, etc. These questions will be studied contextually, with topics in many weeks focusing on a single area case study, or a comparison of two or more country-contexts.

This module addresses the historical emergence of the ‘Chinese nation’. It focuses on socio-cultural identity as well as the ideological frameworks which were employed by different political regimes to promote the concept of China as a modern nation state. It begins with an analysis of the changing relationship between the Han majority, the ruling Manchu elite and the other major ethnic groups forming the Qing empire (1644-1911). It subsequently examines the panoply of new intellectual currents at the turn of the twentieth century, and political responses to the volatile situation following the transition to the Republic of China. The module analyses the tension between socialist internationalism, modern nationalism and traditional Chinese values, while focusing on differing interpretations of ‘Chinese tradition’ during the early People’s Republic.

What makes a person worthy or unworthy of freedom? Who is entitled to justice? What do we mean by equality? Although understood and dealt with differently in different contexts, these questions have constituted, as they still do today, the central concerns and dilemmas in all past societies. Starting with different formulations of a ‘just society’ across time and space, this module explores historical contexts in which these magic yet elusive ideas took on new meanings and significance. Organized thematically, weekly reading assignments and discussions address such topics as revolution, emancipation, forms of free and unfree labour, decolonization, and gendered aspects of rights and obligations.

This module studies the historical foundations of colonialism in the Middle East. It does not begin with a preconceived conception of the ‘colonial’ but examines a series of spatial and temporal transformations through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the region. It explores the conceptual distinctions that emerged between the ‘economic’, the ‘religious’ and the ‘political’ to ask a series of questions: Where do we locate the ‘colonial’? At what moments does it come to be elaborated? Is it merely a result of ‘physical’ occupation by European powers, or could it have begun in another set of relations? Could the Ottoman empire be seen to become ‘colonial’ as the nineteenth century progressed? Each week, the module examines one of the central categories of political and economic history, unpacking the processes by which they have emerged, transformed, or come to be reconfigured.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard.

This module uses diverse legal, historical, anthropological and sociological literature to introduce the dynamic region of Southeast Asia to SOAS postgraduate students. We are guided by a law and society approach, which places an emphasis on empirical, interdisciplinary understandings of the historical and present-day Southeast Asian polities; their social, religious and legal regimes; and the ways they have interacted with one another. You are not required to possess any prior knowledge of legal studies or, indeed, of Southeast Asia. Your weekly classes will be led by experts in the field of Southeast Asian Studies, and you will be able to learn a great deal about the historical, social and legal dimensions of life across Southeast Asia.

This module offers an investigation into the theories and key texts that inform the dynamic field(s) of postcolonial, decolonial and anticolonial studies, with a specific focus on law. Whilst anticolonial uprisings are as old as the global project of Euro-American colonialism and imperialism itself, the long twentieth century saw the emergence of a body of thought that critically addressed the realities of both an enduring ‘coloniality of being’ around the world and the prospects of a Third Worldist approach to social, political and legal justice claims. This body of thought is the core preoccupation of the module, taught by a diverse team of experts in the field. No prior knowledge of law is required to attend the module.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard.

This module critically explores the different theoretical perspectives of the relationship between Human Rights and Islamic law and examines the practices of some relevant Muslim-majority States in that regard. Following on from Part 1, this module focuses on substantive issues, States practices and application of the law.

As the most heavily populated region in the world, the Indian subcontinent has always played an important role in world affairs. From being one of the most successful trading nations of the world, to becoming the heart of the British Empire, and now sitting adjacent to the newly world-dominant China, South Asia has always been a region of strategic, cultural, political and economic importance.
This module aims to introduce students to the many ways in which law, religion and the state interact in the subcontinent. We seek to do so by using, as far as possible, authors from the region, and focus on issues that continue to hold contemporary relevance. We begin by briefly examining the construction of the colonial legal system in South Asia and its lasting legacies today. We analyse the role of religion in the legal systems of the region in two ways: Firstly, we examine the increasing rise of religious intolerance and religious nationalism in South Asia and the legislative and judicial responses to these challenges before analysing whether ‘secularism’ can ever truly be at home in the subcontinent. We also study the impact of religion on personal law, and especially the ways in which this affects women. Within the field of personal and family law we discuss themes such as child marriage and polygamy, dowry problems and violence against women, divorce and maintenance and the much-debated issue of uniform civil codes.

This module aims to introduce students to the many ways in which law, religion and the state interact in the subcontinent. We seek to do so by using, as far as possible, authors from the region, and focus on issues that continue to hold contemporary relevance.

This module provides a critical understanding of the theoretical and conceptual approaches to the relationship between communication, culture, arts and politics in the Middle East.

A central component of globalization is the mass movements of people and the consequent growth of a variety of communities and networks whose lives are played out across and beyond national borders. Media and communications are central to the lives and practices of such collectivities and take many different forms. Many diasporas have developed a range of media channels to bind members and maintain connection with the homeland. Religious communities are amongst the biggest transnational media players, for example in the development of Christian broadcasting channels or the multiplicity of sites for Koranic interpretation on the Net.

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the ways in which varying bodies of scholarship across and intra-various disciplines engage and study Palestine, and also an examination of how the study of Palestine cuts across and informs scholarly, theoretical, political and disciplinary approaches. The course addresses issues relating to the questions of conflict and political economy, development, cultural politics, social and economic relations, identity, and other major concerns of humanities and social sciences.

This course will investigate the evolving nature of security governance and risks in the 21st century, with particular attention to emerging threats in the realms of nuclear weapons, non-state terrorism, climate change, energy, and food security, as well as emerging forms of security governance in the domains of surveillance and policing.

This module introduces students to the sub-field of comparative political thought through critical engagement with different approaches and key debates in the field. Students will read political theory produced in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and will consider various challenges of interpretation related to comparison, perspective, time, space and translation. This module is distinct from other modules in area studies since our study is not confined to a single geographical region; rather, the focus is on the study of concepts and political thought. The module seeks to introduce the main approaches in comparative political theory and to elaborate conceptual approaches to the comparison of political thinking across regions and traditions that the module develops.