Sacred Movement, Sacred Sound

You are responsible for completing all of these assignments without being reminded. Please note that the assignments in each week below indicate the preparation BEFOREHAND! Anything that appears in a different color is a live link to an article or website, and you are expected to go there.

You will have three writing assignments (due 10/22, 11/3, and 11/24), two in-class presentations (Week Seven and Week Ten), and one assignment about food (12/11). Read on for the details.

Prep for Week One: Introductions

Complete these before Wednesday of Week One (10/1), and bring them with you to seminar that day together with your written responses to the questions posed in class on Monday. TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “Down the Rabbit-Hole” from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.
• “This is Your Brain on Religion: Uncovering the Science of Belief,” by D. F. Swaab.
• “Introduction” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp.6-11.
• “Point of Departure” by Huston Smith, in The Illustrated World Religions, pp. 8-14.
• “The Stories of Sensory-Motor Amnesia” and “How Sensory-Motor Amnesia Occurs” by Thomas Hanna, in Somatics, pp. 3-93.

Prep for Week Two: Asian Religions and their Sacred Places

Complete these before Monday of Week Two (10/6), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (10/8). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “Hinduism,” “Buddhism,” “Confucianism,” and “Taoism” by Huston Smith, in The Illustrated World Religions, pp. 17-143.
• “Man and Cosmic Order: South Asian Cycles of Rebirth” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp. 158-199.
• “Spirit and Society: The East Asian Search for Harmony” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp. 200-215.
• Somatics by Thomas Hanna, p.99, exercise #5, then p.120-122, part 8A.

Prep for Week Three: Middle Eastern Religions and their Sacred Places

Complete these before Monday of Week Three (10/13), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (10/15). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “Islam,” “Judaism,” and “Christianity” by Huston Smith, in The Illustrated World Religions, pp. 145-229.
• “Peoples of the Book: One God and One Sacred Word” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp. 100-157.

Prep for Week Four: Sacred Texts and Writing about Belief Systems

Complete these before Monday of Week Four (10/20), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (10/22). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “The Themes of the Sacred” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp. 12-61.
• “Architecture and the Ages of Faith” by Jon Cannon, in The Secret Language of Sacred Places, pp. 62-99.
• Browse through the Internet Sacred Text Archive; and the British Library Online Gallery of Sacred Texts. What catches your attention? What surprises you? What is missing?
• Create a two-page essay (500 words, more or less), to bring to seminar (10/22), on the power and limitations of written texts vs. oral traditions re: the sacred. Hint: do a little online research about orality, secondary orality, Walter J. Ong, and literacy. Keep in mind that people who create and enact sound and movement are operating in an oral medium. There is no right or wrong answer.

Prep for Week Five: Traditional and Nature-Based Spiritualities

Complete these before Monday of Week Five (10/27), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (10/29). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “The Primal Religions” by Huston Smith, in The Illustrated World Religions, pp.231-249.
• “Religion” by Clifford Geertz, in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, pp. 6-14. (to be handed out in class)
• “Why We Became Religious” and “The Evolution of the Spirit World” by Marvin Harris, in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, pp. 15-18. (to be handed out in class)
• “Shamanism” in Wikipedia (please read this lengthy article in its entirety, following links as appropriate to your interests).

Prep for Week Six: Trance and Ritual

Complete these before Monday of Week Six (11/3), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (11/5). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “Ritual is My Chosen Art Form: The Creation of Ritual as Folk Art among Contemporary Pagans” by Sabina Magliocco, in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, pp. 127-139. (to be handed out in class)
• “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, pp. 140-143. (to be handed out in class)
• Complete your essay on Presence. It is due in class (hard copy) Monday, November 3rd.

Prep for Week Seven: Respect, Humility, and Honor

THIS IS AN UPDATE ON THE ASSIGNMENT! SEE THE DATE CHANGE FOR WHEN THE PRESENTATIONS ARE DUE! Complete these before Monday of Week Seven (11/10). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “Introduction” in Guy Beck, Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions, pp. 1-27.
• Read the introductory sections in each chapter, taking notes as you go so that you can remember some of the basic concepts: Judaism (pp. 29-40), Christianity (pp. 61-71), Islam (pp. 89-99), Hinduism (pp. 113-123), Sikhism (pp. 141-151), and Buddhism (pp. 169-179).
• Select one religious path that is different from whatever you are most familiar with. Thoroughly read that one chapter all the way through, taking good notes and listening closely to the CD that accompanies the book. Familiarize yourself with the music and follow the lyrics in the book.
• Go to another source (for example, the Encyclopedia of Religion in the library reference section, or a recording of that type of music), and add one small piece of information that does not appear in that chapter.
• The original plan was for you present this work on Tuesday (11/11). However, that day is a holiday. Instead, the presentations will be on Monday the 17th. You will be asked to present information about that sacred music (the one you studied) in class with several others from the class. Groups will be formed on Monday morning, so be sure to have completed this assignment before Monday. Meet with your group before class on Monday to prepare who will say what. Do not forget during your presentation to add the extra information you obtained from an outside source (no more than a minute or two per person).

Prep for Week Eight: Pilgrimage

Complete these before Monday of Week Eight (11/17), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (11/19). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• Read all of Philip Carr-Gomm’s Sacred Places: Sites of Spiritual Pilgrimage from Stonehenge to Santiago de Compostela. As you read it, take notes about the special features of the different pilgrimage sites. What do they have in common? What differs from one to the next? Does age or location or relation to the natural world or a specific deity play into a site’s importance? Bring these notes to seminar.
• Do a Google search for images using the word “pilgrimage.” Choose one image, find out where it’s from, print it out (in color if you can), and bring it to seminar.
• Begin your Pilgrimage assignment, which is due on Monday of Thanksgiving week (11/24). Complete it during Week Eight.

Prep for Week Nine: Sacrilege and Violence

Complete this reading before Monday of Week Nine (12/1), and bring the texts with you to seminar on Wednesday (12/3). TAKE NOTES on points that interest you! Be prepared to speak about what you have read and heard in class.

• “The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women,” in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, pp. 407-422. (to be handed out in class)

Prep for Week Ten: Final Presentations

Follow the attached link to my suggested program order for our movement pilgrimage transformation rituals for Monday and Tuesday. Remember:

MONDAY: 10-12 –DANCE STUDIO; and, 1-3 — DANCE STUDIO

TUESDAY: 10-12 — DANCE STUDIO; and, 1-3 (RECITAL HALL)

eMAIL me at espositr@evergreen.edu for comments or concerns… ~ RE

Program Order for Pilgrimage Movement_1

Prepare both your final presentation for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday of Week Ten, and your Sacred Foods assignment for the class potluck on Thursday (12/11).