Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology

Religions and Gender

Course objectives

The course provides students with in-depth training on religious phenomena from antiquity to the contemporary age, in a comparative and historical perspective consistent with the Italian tradition of the discipline. The analysis develops in constant interaction with related fields (anthropology, philosophy, psychology, semiotics, sociology, cultural geography). The course offers up-to-date knowledge and methodological tools to understand the variety of religious systems and their historical evolution. It also presents regional and thematic case studies, introducing students to contexts where research projects coherent with the discipline can be developed. (Descriptor 1) Students learn to apply historical and religious knowledge in dialogue with other disciplinary domains ( history, literature, art history, cultural heritage, economics, and political studies), gaining the ability to interpret religious phenomena in a critical and interdisciplinary way. (Descriptor 2) The course fosters the autonomous development of interpretive judgments regarding texts, practices, and religious representations, even in complex and cross-cultural contexts. It encourages historiographical and methodological reflection on the discipline itself. (Descriptor 3) Students become familiar with the specialized vocabulary of the discipline and are enabled to effectively communicate its content and issues, both to expert audiences and to a broader public. (Descriptor 4) The teaching fosters a propensity for independent research, encouraging the development of personal study paths and critical depth, also in preparation for further academic training or professional and teaching activities. (Descriptor 5) The course also includes themes related to the methodology, historiography, and teaching of the History of Religions, understood as a field of comparative research and reflection on religious plurality across time and space.

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MARIANNA FERRARA Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program

The course aims to introduce the main approaches that have emerged within Religious Studies concerning the critical investigation of gender constructions and their relationship with religious discourse in both ancient and contemporary societies. Beginning with the pioneering contributions of female scholars of religion associated with Women’s Studies, the course will highlight the intersections between more recent developments in Gender Studies and Queer Studies and research in the history of religions, in order to explore the cultural construction and function of gender roles. Through a comparative methodology, students will learn how to document the invisibility and inequality of men and women across different contexts according to status, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and age—by examining the symbolic language that shapes fertility management, education, marriage policies, and particularly the discourses governing dowry, divorce, widowhood, and inheritance. The course includes a general section focused on the analysis of ancient sources and modern documents from various religious traditions, and a monographic section dedicated to female initiation rites.

Prerequisites

None.

Books

1) Alessia Lirosi, Alessandro Saggioro (a cura di), Religioni e parità di genere. Percorsi accidentati (Temi e Testi 220, Serie Donne Fedi Culture), Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, ISBN 978-88-9359-688-6 2) Diventare dea. I riti di iniziazione femminile, di Bruce Lincoln, Jouvence 2020.  3) A selection of readings (available in classroom): 3.1) Valerie Saiving, Androcentrism in Religious Studies (1976) 3.2) Nancy Jay, Gender and Dichotomy, 1981 3.3) Joan W. Scott, Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis (1986) 3.4) Judith Butler, Corpi che contano (or. 1993, tr. it. 1996), Introduzione. 3.5) Joan W. Scott, Gender: Still a Useful Category of Analysis? (2010) 3.6) Joseph A. Marchal, I Queer Studies e i Ciritical Masculinity Studies negli studi biblici femministi (2016). 3.7) Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Tra movimento e ricerca accademica (2016)

Teaching mode

Frontal classes. It is also planned the reading, followed by discussion, of a selection of sources inherent to the main issues of the course. During the course, students will be involved to actively work in team in order to explore some aspects specifically related to the course and the teaching program and enhance the historical thinking skills.

Frequency

Attendance is not compulsory, however, only students who attend will participate in the workshop activities.

Exam mode

The examination will consist of an interview intended to verify the applicant's knowledge on the issues exposed during the course and the methodological, critical and applicable aspects of the History of religions. Also, the exam will verify the applicant's autonomous ability to connect the matter of the course with other disciplines.

Bibliography

–Religious Studies: Issues, Prospects, and Proposals, edited by L. Hurtado – K. Klostermaier, vol. 2, Atlanta, Scholars Press, 1991 –Methodology in Religious Studies. The Interface with Women's Studies, edited by A. Sharma, Albany, State University of New York Press, 2002 –L’esegesi femminista del XX secolo, a cura di E. Schüssler Fiorenza, Trapani, Il Pozzo di Giacobbe, 2016 –R. M. Gross, A Garland of Feminist Reflections: Forty Years of Religious Exploration, Berkeley - Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2009.

Lesson mode

Frontal lessons and seminars. During the course there will be laboratory lessons in which students are actively involved in group work to explore specific aspects of the course and the monographic part of the program.