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Religion 320: Topics
in Religious Ethics |
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Dr. David Gitomer |
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You are responsible for all the information about the course on the web site. If there is a conflict between information on the print syllabus and the on-line syllabus, the on-line syllabus takes precedence. The course web site features a newslink featuring up-to-date listings on what will be covered in upcoming class and questions to help you prepare for the class. You are expected to consult the newslink in preparation for every class.
Course orientation:
The life and times of Mohandas K. Gandhi provide an entry
point for thinking about some of the most important movements
of the twentieth century. As an apostle of nationalism in the
developing world, he forced Britain, the world's largest colonial
power to begin closing down its empire by granting independence
to the greatest and longest-held of its colonies--the "jewel
in the crown"--India. As a theorist and practitioner of
non-violent political change, he inspired Martin Luther King,
Jr. and other African-American civil rights activists, the religious
peace movements of the late 20th century, and now the religious
gay and lesbian civil rights movement. His critiques of institutional
power, technology-worship, and capitalist consumerism still challenge
us today.
The story of his life has become almost legendary: He chose to live with the simplicity and self-denial of a saint, and his followers regard him as a saint, calling him mahatma or "great soul," believing that social and political change depended on personal spiritual development. The story of his saintliness has been re-told in many media, especially in the popular film version of his life directed by Richard Attenborough in the early 80's. But even earlier the popular journalism of Europe and the United States were entranced with him, and he used the media skillfully to advance his causes.
Using both Gandhi's own writings and those of other authors, this course will ask students to think about Gandhi's life and work from many points of view. We will examine the political, economic and cultural meanings of European imperialism, the creative and destructive dynamics of nationalism. We will examine the ways Gandhi rediscovered and re-invented his own tradition, Hinduism, inspired by an initial attraction to Christian pacifism and vegetarianism, British democratic rule of law, and the European nationalist idea of self-determination. We will consider whether it is valid to look at Gandhi's early relationship with his parents as a way of understanding the development of his ideas. We will look at the criticism of those who feel that the Gandhian philosophy has created great obstacles for India as a developing, multi-cultural society. Finally, we will look at Gandhi and the media, both in the ways he used newspaper and newsreels in the 30's and 40's to promote an image which would further his cause, as well as the ways Gandhi himself has been depicted in literature, music and popular media.
Despite these many themes the course is not organized thematically,
but by the emerging constructions of knowledge about Gandhi and
his significance, beginning with the height of his fame in the
1930's and continuing to the present day, where we find his legacy
of non-violent struggle still potent alongside deep suspicion
about his political and social achievements.
