This course explores the interaction between religion and ethnic/national identities in the modern world. The class draws upon a variety of particular cases belonging to different religious traditions as they are intertwined with ethnic and national identities through sacralization, symbolic legitimation and/or motivation to action. The conflicts, involving religious actors and rhetoric, will be analyzed and monitored throughout the class. The students are supposed to pick one of the complex cases and prepare portfolios that will eventually put together into a final essay. Special focus will be made on Russian and Eurasian cases.
Selected topics:
Ethnicity and religion
Nation, Nationalism and religion
National identity and religious identity
Globalization and religion
Diaspora, Nationalism and Religion
Multiple modernities and religion
The logic of religious violence
Credit load: 4 ECTS
