Topics covered include the nature of interpersonal desire, sexual ethics, sexual orientation, romantic and agape love, kinds of friendship, and selected concepts such as trust, betrayal, celibacy, promiscuity, and perversion. This course examines feminist theory as it relates to prevailing definitions of power and influence, and explores the political participation of women in such institutions as autonomous women's movements and traditional political parties. An enquiry into the mythologies of relationship which inform today's attitudes towards loving. Recurrent themes in the course are marriage, sexuality, attraction, friendship, fellowship, and fidelity. Rites of Passage An examination of selected rites of passage, such as weddings, funerals, and initiations.
Special attention is given to the dramatic qualities of ritual processes.
An examination of the ways religious themes, symbols, icons and language are used in expressions of popular culture. An introduction to the study of the relationship between religion and popular culture using cultural studies perspectives. Selected examples of contemporary or past popular culture will be studied. Religion and Culture of the African Diaspora An examination of the religious and cultural expressions of the African Diaspora. The course will consider examples of African religious forms from the Caribbean, western Europe and the Americas and their connection to the African diaspora borne out of the histories of colonialism, imperialism, slavery and capitalism over the last five hundred years.