REL362

Critically examines traditional definitions of gender and the ways women both enact and challenge such definitions in the present day in Asia, through the reading of contemporary ethnographic (field research) studies on women and religion. Inspects ways in which cultural history has evolved into the present through study of scholarly theories of intersections between the academic disciplines of history, ethnography, and history of religions. Performs gender analysis to contrast women’s historical social agency to situate the opportunities they have to participate in the shaping of today’s tradition and examines how contemporary women are redefining tradition in social and political context, engaging traditional cultural values in new definitions. The world region/s of focus - South Asia, Southeast Asia, and/or East Asia - will vary by offering.

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