IN THIS ISSUE Teaching with October 2004 Published by the American Academy of Religion Vol. 19, No. 4 Site Visits www.aarweb.org Unexpected Learning Opportunities of the Site Visit . .ii Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger An Insider Perspective from the Temple . .iii EACHING WITH P. Ravi Sarma T Site Visits and Epistemological Diversity in the Study of Religion . .iv Jeffrey Carlson The Nuts and Bolts of Site Visits . .v Grace G. Burford Site Visits Native American Site Visits Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Emory University in the Context of Service Guest Editor Learning . .vi Michael D. McNally Site Visits to Synagogues . .vii Michael S. Berger Site Visit to a Mosque . .viii From the Editor’s Desk Amir Hussain Integrating Field Research in the Introductory Religion Course . .ix Ground: World Religions in America Sheila E. McGinn (1997), eloquently, vividly, and impres- sively document the transformation of Integrating Site Visits in the religious landscape of the U.S. the Pluralism Project at Dotted across urban and rural America A picture’s not worth Connecticut College . .x are places of worship, community cen- a thousand words ters, and cultural festivals that under- Patrice C. Brodeur score the stunning fact that “the United unless one knows all States has become the most religiously “ them words! Site Visits from a diverse nation on earth.” The implica- Journalist’s Perspective . .xi tions of this are many, least of which is Gustav Niebuhr the need for enlightened mutual recog- nition, a prerequisite for civil society. Temples of Culture: Using The articles in this issue of Spotlight Museums for Site Visits . .xii Tazim R. Kassam However, as the cartoon illustrates, ” carefully examine the complexity of Site Lisa Bellan-Boyer understanding requires far more than just Spotlight on Teaching Editor Visits (broadly defined) and the risks seeing. In a world saturated with images and opportunities involved in using (still and moving) that function as the The AAR Committee on them. Wide-ranging in scope, they primary medium for the message, Teaching and Learning (Eugene address the practical nuts-and-bolts of ORTUNATELY, the study of reli- Marshall McLuhan’s prediction that “The V. Gallagher, Chair) sponsors organizing site visits as well as their ped- gion offers much occasion for future of the book is the blurb” is not far Spotlight on Teaching. It appears agogical, ethical, and intellectual dimen- humor. This issue on Site Visits, off the mark. Modern communication twice each year in Religious F sions. Readers will learn why the con- shaped and produced with the expert technologies have intensified the use of Studies News—AAR Edition and tributors use site visits in their teaching; assistance of guest editor Joyce and (often exclusive) reliance upon the focuses on teaching and learn- how they prepare their students for ing around a particular theme, Flueckiger, reminds me of a cartoon I visual senses as a source of information. them and integrate them into course concern, or setting. once stuck on my office door. In a Ironically, while students may assume assignments; the types of challenges dimly lit restaurant, family members are that reading a book or journal article is Editor their students and hosts face during site kneeling on the carpet around their harder to do than watching a video or visits; and alternatives or substitutes to Tazim R. Kassam table as diners look on astonished. A attending a religious festival, the rigors of site visits (for example, museums and Syracuse University customer asks, “Religious ceremony?” checking facts and sources, analyzing Web sites). Embracing the opportunity Waiter replies, “Lost contact lens!” A multiple perspectives, assessing logic, and to learn from the dynamic and multi- Guest Editor delightful way to cast doubt on the asking critical questions are intellectual faceted religious landscape of America, Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger WYSIWYG principle (what you see is tasks applicable to both. Hence, the train- the articles also signal the pitfalls of Emory University what you get). ing of perception and visual intelligence is mere sightseeing, and chart ways to a crucial part of developing students’ making these encounters truly transfor- Spotlight on Teaching Diana Eck’s A New Religious America thinking skills. To rephrase the Chinese mative and educational. ❧ is published by the (2001) and the myriad projects she has proverb: A picture’s not worth a American Academy of Religion undertaken under the Pluralism Project, thousand words unless one knows all 825 Houston Mill Road including the CD-Rom On Common them words! Suite 300 Atlanta, GA 30329 Visit www.aarweb.org Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Unexpected Learning Opportunities of the Site Visit Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Emory University Guest Editor Every site visit will generate different kinds find ways to keep students from overgen- of unexpected learning opportunities for eralizing about Hindu practices and com- different kinds of students. Here I will munities based on a single site visit. We However, students may describe just a few (initially) unintended are fortunate in a large urban context like also consciously or consequences of site visits to Hindu tem- Atlanta to have several Hindu temples, ples that my students and I have experi- and in any given class, small groups of stu- unconsciously draw other enced over the last decade. First, however, dents usually visit several different tem- “conclusions from the site let me describe very briefly what some of ples. After their fieldwork, members of my pedagogical goals are in sending stu- each group report orally about their visits visit that we do not want dents to Hindu temples, how some of and we discuss the differences between the them to or that may these goals have changed over the years various temples. Hindu students often because of the unexpected learnings I have report the differences they see in the sites be unwarranted. witnessed in students, and the kinds of they have visited in Atlanta compared to preparation I give my students before visit- their home temples elsewhere in the U.S. U.S., and temple communities, are contin- Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger is Associate ing the temple. and those they have visited in India. ually shifting and more flexible than may Professor in the Department of Religion Nevertheless, there is a wide range of ritual meet the eye on a single visit. It is impor- and Director of Asian Studies, Emory My primary pedagogical goal in the tem- practices (including those of various ” tant to remind ourselves that religion is University. She is the author of Healing at ple site visit has been to enable students to regions, castes, and classes of India) that not static and thus what students observe the Crossroads: Sufi Practice, Gender, witness or experience the ritual of wor- are not represented by the diversity of tem- in a single site visit needs to be contextual- and Religious Identities at the Crossroads shiping the deity through making offerings ples here in the U.S. ized in time and place, with a realization in South India (forthcoming) and Gender to his/her image/murti, i.e., puja. I also and Genre in the Folklore of Middle that institutions, communities, and indi- want students to experience the seeming Single site visits may result in other gener- India (Cornell University Press, 1996). viduals in those communities change. I informality and individuality of worship in alizations that are not accurate. For exam- myself was caught unaware by some shifts Hindu temples. I encourage Hindu stu- ple, students may conclude from their site in the temple that many Emory students dents to visit a temple that they do not visits that women have little participation visit, shifts that I needed to know about regularly attend or whose traditions repre- in Hindu ritual practices as direct offici- when I gave suggestions to the class about sent those of a different region than that ates, since temple rituals in the kinds of OR A SITE VISIT to be successful, appropriate behavior in the temple. I’ll tell from which the student’s parents come. temples that are present in the U.S. are it will have specific pedagogical goals, the story here, as it brings up several gen- Here the pedagogical purpose is to expose officiated by Brahmin men only. Students the students will prepare for what eral points about site visits, as well as illus- F Indian-American Hindu students to the would not know of women’s prominence they will see, hear, and otherwise experi- trating the dynamism of religious sites to diversity of traditions within Hinduism. I in domestic Hindu ritual life, including ence, and the experience will be integrated which we may send our students. prepare students for the temple site visit daily rituals at domestic puja shrines. On into class discussions rather than tacked by discussing at length the puja ritual, the other hand, women in temple commu- on as an “extra” (touristic) activity. But In telling my students what to expect in a fieldwork, of which the site visit is one site visit to a Hindu temple, I include a genre, is serendipitous and often cannot be discussion of whether and how they can “contained” within the pedagogical param- accept the food offered to a Hindu deity eters that we as professors might set. It is (prasad). For observant Jews and evangeli- important for us to try to account for and cal Christians, I explain that their own tra- address what students may learn that we dition may dictate that they should not may not have intended — some of these accept prasad; but I also explain to them unexpected learnings are positive and oth- that, for the Hindus, the offering of prasad ers may have more subtly negative conse- and its acceptance may mean something quences.