• What is “logocentrism” and how does Derrida feel about it?

• What might religious texts help you understand about a religion? 
What might they NOT help you understand?

• Give four examples of hybridity involving specific religious traditions.

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Anonymous Feedback

• Election: “new government” remark• Thanks for laptop ban• Nice comments➡ Thanks!

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6. “Texts” + Culture

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Today• Assignments!• Finish: “Texts”

1. Theories of texts2. What do texts mean? 3. Which texts do we study?4. Why study texts?

• Start: Culture1. What is “culture”?

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Course ParticipationMarked out of 30:

1. Online discussion comments (6 marks)

2. Tutorial attendance (11 marks)

3. Tutorial reading reflections (11 marks)

4. Tutorial homework (11 marks)

5. PELS workshops (10 marks)

6. FSG sessions (10 marks)

7. Reflections on UTM events (5 marks)

8. Reflection on election (1 mark) 7

• Outline + group photo due Nov. 8• Late contracts due Nov. 8• Final field research analysis due Nov. 29 • Instructions coming very soon!

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Field Research Analysis

• Go to your site ASAP!• Best to know as little as possible about the

religious tradition in advance

• Analyze observations using Nye’s text➡ Culture OR power OR gender

➡ “Field Research Theories” document

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Field Research Analysis

• Question: 
“What do your observations of the religious service reveal about that service in relation to 2 theories of power?” (or gender or culture)

• NOT looking for “correct answers”• Offer an interpretation of the data• Construct an argument based on 


evidence

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Field Research Analysis

• What is the meaning of a specific 
religious practice, symbol, object, etc.?

➡ Usually about insider perspective

➡ NOT what this assignment is about

➡ No additional research!

➡ Go beyond obvious/surface meanings

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Field Research Analysis

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Field Research Analysis

• 5 paragraphs:1. Description of observations 12. Analysis of observations 1

3. Description of observations 24. Analysis of observations 2

5. Reflection

Pattern 1

Theory 1

Pattern 2

Theory 2

• Due October 23• 4 paragraphs in total:

1. Belief (revised!)

2. Ritual

3. Text

4. Reflection

Film Analysis

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Film Analysis• Ritual paragraph➡ Do not worry about whether an action is a

“ritual” or not

➡ Simply use a theory of ritual to analyze any action(s) that interest you

➡ Question: what does the action mean?

➡ Using Freud’s theory, it’s possible to see that Simba uses the “hakuna matata” ritual to avoid dealing with problems.

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Film Analysis

• Text paragraph• Apply theories to “texts” WITHIN the film➡ “Text” = anything in the film that is spoken,

sung, written, named, signed, etc.

➡ “Author” = character who writes or speaks

➡ “Reader” = character who reads or listens

• E.g.,“Hakuna Matata”: Author? Reader? 15

• Do NOT do the following:➡ “Text” = screenplay of the film

➡ “Author” = writer of the screenplay

➡ “Reader” = viewer of the film

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Film Analysis

• Due October 23• 4 paragraphs in total:

1. Belief (revised!)

2. Ritual

3. Text

4. Reflection

Film Analysis: Questions?

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“Texts!”

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“Texts”

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1. Theories of texts

2. What do texts mean?

3. Which texts do we study?

4. Why study texts?

1. Theories of texts

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AUTHOR TEXT READER

Timon + Pumba Hakuna Matata Simba

Nala + Mufasa Go back to Pride Lands! Simba

• Authorship (p. 169–71): 
Michel Foucault + Roland Barthes

• Readers (p. 176–78): 
Wolfgang Iser + Stanley Fish

• Gender (p. 178): 
Judith Fetterley + Julia Leslie

• Language + interpretation (p. 158–59): Jacques Derrida

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Authorship1. Barthes: “Death” of the author


(=author’s intent is NOT important in determining the meaning[s] of a text)

• Example: Simba’s interpretation of “hakuna matata” may be quite different than what T+P meant. Why did Simba read “hakuna matata” the way that he did?

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Authorship2. Foucault: author’s identity IS important in

determining the meaning(s) of a text 
(status, expertise, gender, etc.)

• Example: Simba doesn’t want to return to Pride Lands, but he changes his mind when Sky Mufasa says that he should go.

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Readers

• Iser: meaning produced by relation b/t reader and text (very broad idea)

• Fish: identity of reader affects how they read a text

➡ Example: Scar tells Simba NOT to go to elephant graveyard. Why does Simba go?

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Gender

• Fetterley: “important” texts written by, for, and about men

➡ Most often male “voice” is heard

➡ Sacred texts

➡ Simba listens to Mufasa but not Nala

• Leslie: gender of reader may impact how a text is read

➡ See Stanley Fish 26

Jacques Derrida• Logocentrism (p. 159)• Belief that words are window to the world

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“One time, Nanabush threw the bear so hard against the ground he broke the earth,

and water began to flow through. 
That in fact is the reason the water now

flows past Sault Ste Marie.”

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“Red Willows”

Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important 2. The meanings of texts are variable

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Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important➡ We live in worlds shaped by texts➡ Course syllabi, essay instructions, laws

➡ Sacred texts!

➡ “Red Willows”

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Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important➡ We live in worlds shaped by texts➡ The Lion King

★ “hakuna matata”

★ “he lives in you”

★ “you are my son . . . and the one true king”

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Jacques Derrida2. The meanings of texts are variable➡ Unstable links between words + reality

➡ Meaning of words not fixed

➡ Meaning affected by changes in history, geography, context, author, reader, etc.

➡ Icon?

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Image of Jesus or saint, usually painted on wood. Used in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

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Icon: The Ladder of Divine Ascent

(12th C)

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“Fuggetaboutit”

Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important 2. The meanings of texts are variable

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Parks and Recreation S05E19

citizens shall dump Ted into Ramsett Lake 36

what the founders meant

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The Pawnee Charter1. Texts are important ➡ Throw Ted in the lake!

2. The meanings of texts are variable➡ Tea / Ted

➡ Seize any “Indian” property

➡ Women vs. land-owning males 
(law used to apply, but now people ignore it)

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Bible

“You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on

it shall be cut off from among the people.” (Exodus 31:14)

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2. What do texts mean?

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Meaning of Texts? Meaning of Texts?

• Texts have many possible meanings➡ But not infinite meanings

➡ Like rituals!

➡ Relationship b/t author, text, and reader

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Meaning of Texts?

• Lots of disagreements over meanings!➡ Sacred text disputes

• Language is complicated (e.g., meanings of words change over time and place)

• Literal vs. metaphorical meanings

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“I am the gate for the sheep.”

– Jesus (in John 10:7)

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• Indigenous stories! (e.g., afterlife, tricksters)➡ Meaning of “Red Willows”?

➡ Literal meaning: history (“this is what actually happened”)

➡ Possible metaphorical meanings: take care of relationships; don’t be greedy!

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Meaning of Texts?

1. Physical text

➡ e.g., Judaism (Torah), 
Sikhism (Guru Granth Sahib)

➡ Preservation / destruction

2. Understanding vs. actual content

➡ e.g., Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3) 46

Meaning of Texts?

Meaning beyond words/content:

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3. Which texts do we study?

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Which Texts?

• Quotation marks? (“Texts”)➡ Oral “texts”

➡ Visual “texts” (movies, TV, internet, etc.)

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Which Texts?

• Roland Barthes, Mythologies➡ All “texts” matter

➡ University: “popular” vs “academic”

➡ Stories, poems, films, TV shows, lyrics, commercials, billboards, etc., etc.

➡ Don’t assume which “texts” are “sacred”

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4. Why study texts?

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Why Texts?

• Max Müller:➡ Texts are the MOST IMPORTANT

➡ Study of religion = study of sacred texts

➡ Beliefs, origins, (male) founders

➡ “Pure” tradition vs. change over time + how actual people practice their religion

➡ Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther) emphasized texts (“sola scriptura”)

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• Power of words / language➡ Names, laws, stories

➡ United States: illegal for slaves to read

➡ Gerald Ratner’s 1991 speech (“crap”)

➡ Prof. Marrus: “You know this is your master, eh? Do you feel the lash?”

➡ Malaysia: “Allah” illegal for non-Muslims to use/say

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Why Texts?

#MeToo

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Why Texts?

“Sticks and stones may 
break my bones, but names will

never hurt me.”

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Why Texts?

“Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also

put them back together. 
I hope you use yours for good.”

― Taylor Swift 57

Why Texts?

• We have studied:➡ Belief

➡ Ritual

➡ “Texts”

• These are often connected!

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Pause for Reflection

Hakuna Matata


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Eucharist

Eid al-Fitr

Culture!

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1. Big picture stuff:

➡ What is “culture”?

➡ What do we study?

2. Specific theories:

➡ How do we study religion and culture?

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Culture

• What is “culture”?➡ Everything!

➡ Music, film, literature, fashion, food, etc.

➡ Also religion!

• What do we study?➡ Everything!

➡ “Elite/high” and “popular/low” 63

CultureNye p. 24-36 • What is “culture”?

➡ Everything!

➡ Music, film, literature, fashion, food, etc.

➡ Also religion!

• What do we study?➡ Everything!

➡ “Elite/high” and “popular/low” 64

CultureNye p. 24-36

Culture

• Culture / religion: always changing➡ Tension between desire/need for change,

and desire/need for stability

➡ Importance of “tradition”

➡ Debate about “true nature”

➡ What changes are acceptable?

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Song

• “Lights Up” by Harry Styles (2019)

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“Lights Up”

Be so sweet if things just stayed the same

I’m not ever going back

Lights up and they know who you are
Know who you are


Do you know who you are?

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Culture

• Culture / religion: always changing➡ Hybridity (syncretism) = mix of different

cultures / religions (e.g., James Clifford)

➡ New circumstances/ideas/technology 
(not necessarily the same as hybridity)

➡ Result of mixing is often hard to understand / predict

➡ May be very POSITIVE 68

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In Praise of Mixed Religion 


by William Harrison

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Princess Leia 
Star Wars IV: A New Hope

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Loch Ness Monster = Naga (Buddhism)

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Spider-Man 2 80

Wonder Woman

Black Panther

Iron Man “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”

Said by Jesus (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25)

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#MuslimRage

• NO BEEF PEPPERONI AT PIZZA HUT?! #MuslimRage

• my dad when Pakistan's cricket team loses #MuslimRage

• no WiFi in the mosque #MuslimRage• Lost your kid “Jihad” at the airport. Can't

yell for him. #MuslimRage

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