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CLASS SCHEDULE
Introduction
Discourses of history
Elections
Austronesian
Elections
Early Colonialism
Qing Society
Japanese Takeover
Baseball
2-28
Little China
Democratization
Environment
Museums
Religion
Family and Marriage
Local and National
National and Global

ANTHROPOLOGY 469A/JSIS 484F

TAIWAN: CULTURE, SOCIETY, HISTORY

TOPICS AND READINGS FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29

TOPICS
Religion in Taiwan is incredibly various. There are the local cults usually referred to as "folk religion," there are the organized Daoist priesthoods, there are Buddhist temples--sectarian and otherwise--and there are the Christian churches, of which the Presbyterians and Catholics are the most influential. We don't have time to read more than a smattering of works, but look at the following, and in class we will have activities:
  • I will show a slide show of "killing pig pigs."
  • We will watch Gary Seaman's old ethnographic film, Breaking the Blood Bowl
  • We will talk about the modern relevance of Mazu for various aspects of politics, including China relations and environmental protest.
READINGS
ASSIGNMENT
By 8:00 a.m. on Monday, February 29, please post 200-400 words on the question of the importance or unimportance of religion in what most people would consider a secular society.