COURSES DESCRIPTION

ITKI 6204 Sociology of Religion and Culture


    Given course examines cultural and religious phenomena from a sociological perspective. At the same time, special attention will be paid to societies where Islam is the dominant religion, and phenomena and processes will be considered from the perspective of a comparative historical approach.
The course will consider the formation of value-based normative components of culture and the role of religion in this process, the development and transformation of cultural and religious institutions. Students will be familiarized with modern processes in the field of culture and religion: modernization and rationalization, secularization and pot-secularism, the phenomena of mass and popular culture, the influence of electronic media on cultural and religious processes.
The course includes an examination of the main sociological theories of religion and culture, with a special focus on Muslim social theorists. It will also address fundamentals of postcolonial theory.

During the course students will gain basic knowledge about sociological theories of culture and religion and their application to the study of corresponding phenomena, institutions and processes, mainly in the context of Muslim societies in the historical perspective and in the modern world. This will allow them for a better understanding of the factors that determine socio-cultural diversity in the Muslim world.

TEACHER(s)