Ethnographies of Religion: Education, Socialization, Indoctrination

Religion has long been a central preoccupation for ethnographers interested in the formation and function ofsocial groups. Much ethnography of religion focuses on rituals and practices of inscription -- exploring the waysin which religious communities turn concepts into practices (and vice versa) that reinscribe members within acollective. These efforts take many forms, but they are, at their core, educational, insofar as they serve as aninformal curriculum for the acquisition and rehearsal of theological, communal, ritual, textual, and embodiedforms. This seminar will focus on the educational aspects central of ethnographic approaches to the study ofreligion, looking into and beyond schools.