Religion and Ritual (L6072)

15 credits, Level 5

Autumn teaching

On this module, you'll explore explanations for religious and ritual phenomena, examining key issues through ethnographic studies of topics like initiation, myth, witchcraft, symbolism and religious experience. You'll also address 'secular' rituals, including events like carnival and Christmas.

Focus areas include:

• how people believe, as much as what they believe
• why rituals are performed, including what they look like.

You'll engage with both classic texts and recent accounts, developing your understanding of the origins and evolution of key arguments in the study of religion and ritual.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 20 hours of contact time and about 130 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.