Magic, Science, and Religion Baptism, Trinidad [Photo by J.B. Crosson] Instructor: Brent Crosson Summer 2021, Asynchronous Online Course Office Hours: M,T,W,Th, 12-1:00. Office hours will be conducted via Zoom at the following link. I strongly encourage you to come to office hours with questions rather than emailing about them. Due to recent health conditions (head injury) I am unable to check email frequently: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/97161902254 TA: Gary Wallis Email: [email protected] Our TA will field emails, but please see the above instructions regarding asking questions. 1 Course Objectives In this course, we will interrogate the concepts of magic, science, and religion as culturally and historically constructed categories. We will focus on how these categories solidified in the modern era (~1500-present) out of global interactions that involved Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. We will critically examine how the construction of science and religion, as well as the opposition of empirical knowledge and belief, were central to the Enlightenment, European colonialism, and the formation of the social and natural sciences. Drawing on recent critiques of these foundational distinctions, we will question common- sense understandings of these categories and their relations: • How did the experimental sciences emerge out practices of “natural magic,” hermeticism, or evidence law? • How do our notions of religion reflect certain assumptions? What are other ways of categorizing practices we might deem as religion? • How have the divisions between science, magic and religion, or between rationality and superstition, undergirded projects of modernity, colonization, and development? Plus and minus grading will be used: A 95-100, A- 90-94, B+ 88-89, B 84-87, B- 80-83, C+ 78-79, C 74-77, C- 70-73, D+ 68- 69, D 64-67, D- 60-63, F 59 and Below 2 Other General Policies Canvas Course information, handouts, assignments, review sheets, etc. will be posted on the class website on Canvas. To find the Canvas site, and go to http://canvas.utexas.edu/ and log in with your EID and password. University of Texas Honor Code and Academic Integrity The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. If you are uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, or other violations, please feel free to ask me. Students who violate the University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possible failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. The policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. For more information, you can talk with me or visit the Student Judicial Services Web site: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sis. Use of E-Mail for Official Correspondence to Students Email is recognized as an official mode of university correspondence; therefore, you are responsible for reading your email for university and course-related information and announcements. You are responsible to keep the university informed about changes to your e-mail address. You should check your e-mail regularly and frequently to stay current with university-related communications, some of which may be time-critical. You can find UT Austin’s policies and instructions for updating your email address at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.php. New Law on Harassment Reporting Requirements.Senate Bill 212 (SB 212), which goes into effect as of January 1, 2020, is a Texas State Law that requires all employees (both faculty and staff) at a public or private post-secondary institution to promptly report any knowledge of any incidents of sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating violence, or stalking “committed by or against a person who was a student enrolled at or an employee of the institution at the time of the incident". Please note that both the instructor and the TA for this class are mandatory reporters and MUST share with the Title IX office any information about sexual harassment/assault shared with us by a student whether in-person or as part of a journal or other class assignment. Note that a report to the Title IX office does not obligate a victim to take any action, but this type of information CANNOT be kept strictly confidential except when shared with designated confidential employees. A confidential employee is someone a student can go to and talk about a Title IX matter without triggering that employee to have to report the situation to have it automatically investigated. A list of confidential employees is available on theTitle IX website. Accommodations: Documented Disability Statement If you require special accommodations, you must obtain a letter that documents your disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (471-6259 voice or 471-4641 TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing). Present the letter to me at the beginning of the semester so we can discuss the accommodations you need. No later than five business days before an exam, you should remind me of any testing accommodations you will need. For more information, visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/. Religious Holidays By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence. 3 Grading Components—Adjusted for online conditions (100 Points Total) Presentation (10 Points): 1. Quantum Entanglement 2. Ectoplasm, Spiritualism, and Psychical Research 3. Isaac Newton and Alchemy 4. Islamic Science 5. Giordano Bruno 6. Copernicus 7. Mesmerism 8. Zombies and Science in American Fantasy 9. Secularism 10. The Magic Lantern, the Camera Obscura, and the Powerpoint 11. Dutty Boukman and Pat Robertson Each Student will present on some aspect of these topics that is not fully elaborated upon (though it may be covered) in our readings. Students can consult me via office hours or by appointment with their ideas for the presentation. Presentations should be 10-15 minutes long. Please do NOT go over 15 minutes. This is a requirement, so please prepare by timing yourself (generally people take more time than they think they will). A grading rubric for the presentations is online. I am happy to give you feedback on the presentation if you see me during office hours. Each student will use the voice-over function in PowerPoint to record their presentation of slides (if you are not familiar with this function, see: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings- 0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c). The slides must be assembled into a single PowerPoint file, which will be turned in on Canvas. You must turn in only one file. Students must speak and identify themselves by name in the slide show to receive credit. The Presentations are due on the date each is listed on the syllabus. Ethical Debate Position Papers (30 Points): We will write on six ethical debates in which students will be assigned a position on a particular issue of importance to the current theme of the readings. Students will be divided into four debate teams (A,B,C,D), and two of these teams will participate in each debate. Each student will thus participate in three out of the six debates. Each debate paper will count for ten points of a student’s grade. The debate position paper (1.5 to 3 pgs. double-spaced) argues for the assigned side in the debate at hand. The student should detail the ethical consequences of their assigned position. What are the outcomes, personal responsibilities, and moral consequences involved in enacting such a position? In these papers you must cite the assigned class readings to support your assigned position. These papers must be submitted via Canvas by the beginning of the reading date in which the debate is assigned. You only write papers for the debates that you are assigned to. Debate groups and assigned positions are on Canvas. Video lectures often provide sample debates and debate rationales. Here are minimum requirements for the ethical debate assignment. You will not receive credit if you don’t follow these instructions: *Must be at least two pages, double-spaced, 12 pt. New Times Roman font, 1.25” margins. Please start at the very top of the page (do not hit the return bar several times and then start your response) *Responses must be no more than three pages double-spaced 4 *Please write your assigned position and group at the top of the paper *You only do the three debate papers for which you are assigned by group Reading Journal Response Entries (28 Points for 7 [and ONLY 7] entries): For most (BUT NOT ALL) assigned readings, you will be given the option of writing a journal entry. You will write seven entries of your choice—you cannot write any more than seven. Submitting more than seven entries can negatively affect your grade. Journal entries should briefly answer the reading guide questions posted on Canvas in the assignment. These questions will also serve as guides for independent thinking and study for quizzes. The journal requires you to keep a record of your responses to the readings, and helps you sharpen critical thinking and writing skills. Each entry counts up to 4 points.