RELG 328
Ecstasy and Divine Madness in the
South Asian Traditions
Professor: Daniel Meckel
Office: MB 104
Office Hours: W 12:00-1:00
Email: djmeckel@smcm.edu
Course Materials
FOR
PURCHASE:
Obeyesekere, Gananath Medusa’s Hair: An Essay on Personal
Symbols and Religious Experience
[MH]
Kakar,
Sudhir Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India and
it’s Healing Traditions [SMD]
Swami Muktananda Play of
Consciousness: A Spiritual Autobiography [POC]
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week I
|
Jan. 18: Introduction
to the Class |
|
|
Jan. 20: Approaches to Ecstasy and Divine Madness |
Meckel, “Hinduism and Psychoanalysis: Encounters at
the Crossroads of Psyche, Culture and the Religious” (handout) |
Week II
|
Mar. 05: Explanatory
thinking Case 1: Vikram |
|
|
Mar. 07: Interpretive
thinking Case 2: Ludar |
|
|
Mar. 09: Integrative
thinking Case 3:
Sushmita |
|
Medusa’s Hair: An Essay
on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience
by Gananath Obeyesekere
Ecstatic
Ascetics and Matted Hair
Week III
|
Jan. 30: Kataragama |
MH Part One, pp. 1-11 |
|
Feb. 01: Private and Public Symbols Case 4: Karunavati
Maniyo Case 5: Manci Nona |
MH Part One, pp. 13-33 |
|
Feb. 03: The Meaning of Hair |
MH Part One, pp. 33-51 |
Week IV
|
Feb. 06: The Dark Night of the Soul Case 6: Pemavati
Vitarana |
MH Part One, pp. 53-66 |
|
Feb. 08: Buddhist
Asceticism or Hindu
Devotionalism? Case 7: Juliet Nona |
MH Part Two, pp. 66-76 |
|
Feb. 10: The
Symbolization of Guilt and the Symbolic Integration of the Personality |
MH Part Two, pp. 76-89 |
Week V
|
Feb. 13:
Interpersonal Interaction and Personal Symbols Case 8: Munasinha
Beauty Sivla |
MH Part Three, pp. 91-106 |
|
Feb. 15:
Communication and Estrangement |
MH Part Three, pp.
106-122 |
Fire-Walkers
and Hook-Hangers
|
Feb. 17: Decent into
the Grave and a Tryst with the Black Prince Case 9: Sirima Hettiaracci |
MH Part Four, pp. 123-142 |
Week VI
|
Feb. 20: A
Hook-Hanger at Kataragama Case 10: Tuan Sahid
Abdin |
MH Part Four, pp. 142-154 |
|
Feb. 22: No Class
(St. Mary’s Day) |
|
|
Feb. 24: Fantasy and Symbolism in the Integration of
Personality with Culture |
MH Part Four, pp. 154-167 First Submission of
Prospectus in Class |
Shamans, Mystics and Doctors: A Psychological Inquiry into India
and it’s Healing Traditions
By Sudhir Kakar
Local
and Folk Traditions: Pirs and Pandits
Week VII
|
Feb. 27: The
Pir of Patteshah Dargah: Soul
Knowledge and Soul Force |
SMD: pp. 15-52 |
Women and Possession
|
Feb. 29: Lord
of the Spirit World: The Balaji Temple |
SMD: pp. 53-88 |
|
Mar. 02: Theorizing women and possession |
|
Week VIII
|
Mar. 05: Eyes of Stone (1) |
·
Nabokov, Isabelle. “Expel the Lover, Recover the
Wife: Symbolic Analysis of a South Indian Exorcism” |
|
Mar. 07:
Eyes of Stone (2) |
Final Prospectus Due in Class |
|
Mar. 09: Midterm |
|
Week IX
|
|
Mystical
Traditions: Saints and Tantrics
Week X
|
Mar. 21: The Path of the
Saints |
SMD Ch. 5 |
|
Mar. 23: Tantra and
Tantric Healing |
SMD Ch. 6 |
Week XI
|
Mar. 26: The Cult of
Mataji |
SMD Ch. 7 |
Medical
Traditions
Week XII
|
April 02: Indian
Medicine and Psychiatry: Cultural and
Theoretical Perspectives on Ayurveda |
SMD Ch. 8 Deadline for choosing Final Exam
Option |
|
April 04: The Good Doctor of Jarsetli |
SMD Ch. 9 |
Swami Muktananda: A Spiritual Autobiography
Week XIII
|
April 09: The Importance
of God-Realization |
Muktananda, pp. 3-69 |
|
April 11: The White
Light |
Muktananda, pp. 73-137 |
|
April 13: The Blue Pearl |
Muktananda, pp. 138-191 |
Week XIV
|
April 16: The Play of
Consciousness |
Muktananda, pp. 192-243 |
|
April 18: Pure
Spontaneity |
Muktananda, pp. 244-300 First Submission of Paper Please send to me by email: djmeckel@smcm.edu Type “First Submission” on the subject line |
|
April 20: Meetings with
Paper-Writers |
|
The
Analyst and the Mystic
(Chapters
posted on Blackboard)
Week XV
|
April 23: Ramakrishna
& Mystical Experience |
Kakar (A&M), ch. 1 |
|
April 25: The Guru as Healer |
Kakar (A&M), ch. 2 |
|
April 27: Psychoanalysis
and Religion Revisited |
Kakar, (A&M), ch. 3 |
|
Final
Exam Questions 200
Points each Each essay
should be no less than 4-5 pages in length, 1.
In both books that we read by Kakar,
he compares the therapist-patient relationship with the guru-disciple
relationship, in the effort to understand how one might contribute to the
other. Develop your own critical reflections
on Kakar’s conclusions, making reference to Muktananda’s autobiography when
possible, as well as the other cases offered by Kakar. 2.
Offer a critique of Kakar’s chapter on
Ramakrishna through the lens of Obeyesekere’s theory of personal
symbols. Remember that Obeyesekere
focuses on how his priestesses use a particular symbol system; and he sees a
movement in their use of symbols from domination by motive to domination by
meaning. Be sure to compare
Ramakrishna with the Priestesses and Abdin in this respect. |
|
May 7: Final Submission of Paper and Finals Please send your papers and final to
me via email by midnight. On the subject line, please write
either “Ecstasy Paper – Final Submission”, or “Ecstasy Take-Home”. |
************
|
Discussion Leading |
100 (2x50) |
|
Responses to Discussion Questions |
50 (2x25) |
|
Midterm |
300 |
|
Paper or Final Exam |
400 |
|
Participation: Basic |
100 |
|
Participation: Active |
50 |
Final Grade Values
1000
Points Possible
|
900 to
919 = A- 880 to
899 = B+ 820 to
879 = B 800 to
819 = B- 780 to
799 = C+ |
700 to 719 =
C- 680 to 699 =
D+ 620 to 679 =
D 600 to 619 =
D- 599 and below
= F |
Go
to Blackboard to track your progress in the class
Discussion Questions: Each student will direct two discussion sessions in
class, each time in cooperation with one other student. I will assign the dates for leading
discussion. The two students should come
up with four discussions questions (two each) and consult with each other in
advance to be sure that the questions are sufficiently different and that
together they should generate a comprehensive discussion of the reading
assignment(s) for that day. After
completing the questions, one of the two students should compile them into a
single document. That document must be
sent to me via email by 5:00 PM, two days
before the class discussion. I will
approve the questions or suggest alterations.
The final list of four questions should be posted as one document on the
discussion board by 8:00 PM the evening
before the discussion. List each
pair of questions under the name of the discussion leader who wrote them. Each student should then write responses to
his or her own two questions. Those
responses should be at least one substantial paragraph each. Do not post these responses. At the end of class on the day of the
discussion, one of the two students should give me a paper copy of the four
questions along with the responses from both students.
·
Any of the
following will result in a 10 point reduction: late submission of the questions
for my approval, late posting of the questions on the question board, late
submission of the responses.
·
If a student
does not show up in class to lead a discussion, s/he receives no points for the
assignment, a 30 point reduction from the basic participation score, and an
undocumented absence.
Discussion Responses: I will assign
two dates for each student to act as respondent, in cooperation with another
student. Each time, students will compose
written responses of no less than one full paragraph for the four posted
questions. These responses should be
submitted to me on the day of the discussion, at the end of class. No need to post the responses. Late responses will not be accepted.
·
Any of the
following will result in a 10 point reduction: late posting of the questions on
the question board.
·
If a student
does not show up in class to act as respondent, s/he receives no points for the
assignment, a 20 point reduction from the basic participation score, and an
undocumented absence.
Midterm Exam: This exam will test your knowledge of the content of the course
readings and lectures, and your ability to address their theoretical aspects in
terms of the three hermeneutics studied at the beginning of the class.
Research Paper: The paper counts for 40% of the total grade. It is an opportunity to develop your
knowledge and thinking about a focused topic concerning possession, divine
madness, or ecstatic states in South Asia. I also ask you to bring in at least
two different approaches to your topic and compare them. Students must choose a topic and submit a
prospectus by the deadline indicated above. The prospectus should include:
1. A statement of the focused
topic of the paper
2. A research question related to the topic
3. An initial thesis
4. A bibliography of five scholarly books or articles
that relate directly to the paper topics and question. It is essential that you have read into these
texts and not simply chosen them for their titles. The bibiography should clearly reflect the
focus, not just the general subject matter, of the paper, and some intitial
reading into these sources. All sources
must be scholarly and may not come from the internet, with the exception of
research sites linked to the library page.
I will determine the final
grade for the paper by averaging the total points for the two submissions.
Point reductions for
lateness:
·
Initial and
final prospectus: Five points for each
day after the deadline. Lateness
exceeding five days after the deadline forfeits the assignment.
·
First
submission of paper: Must be submitted by the deadline or student will not have
the opportunity to rewrite.
·
No
resubmissions after the final deadline.
Papers should be organized
in such a way as to present the scholarly topic, formulate a question,
articulate a thesis, support the thesis with good scholarly material, discuss
the implication of your thesis, and raise questions that emerge from your work. Your paper must be at least fifteen pages in
length (not including endnotes or the list of references) and double
spaced. You may use endnotes but not
footnotes. Citations can be in any
standard format – e.g., Turabian, MLA, APA, Chicago – so long as the format is
used consistently throughout.
Examples of topics (not
exhaustive):
1. Possession: e.g., and family, women, lower castes,
upper castes, healing, gods, demons, ancestral spirits, ghosts, divination,
village life, urban life, modernization, etc.
2. Divine Madness: e.g., in a well-known Hindu saint
(like Ramakrishna), in a specific sect, by a specific god, as viewed from a
psychological and anthropological perspective, and the relevant emotions (bhavna), and insanity.
3. Ecstasy and trance states: e.g., in the life of a
particular mystic, in relation to music such as Qawwal or drumming, etc.
4. Exorcism: e.g., and healing, ghosts, demons or gods,
in specific devotional sects, etc.
5. Ecstatic ritual: e.g., such as hook hanging, piercing,
meditation, fire-walking, etc., in particular movements or traditions such as
festivals, pilgrimages, etc.
On my grading: I extend an
open invitation to you to talk with me about any grade (on a discussion, paper
or exam) for the purpose of further exploration, clarification, or to argue for
a higher grade. In the latter case, I may or may
not be convinced, but I will always listen and try to make the interaction
worthwhile for you.
Basic Participation: “Basic
Participation” means (1) present, (2) alert, (3) prepared with assignments, (4)
punctual arrival. Lack of any of these
will affect the grade, excessive lack (e.g., more than 3 undocumented absences)
is reason for dismissal from the class.
Active Participation: “Active Participation” refers to participation above
and beyond the basics; for example, when a student asks questions, makes
comments, seeks clarification, argues a point, brings outside material (like
news articles, books, experiences, etc.) to share in class. This category includes at least one individual
meeting (10 pts) with me, to be scheduled in advance.
Other Important Info:
My Attendance Policy: Attendance
is required. Without regular attendance,
students do not tend to do well in the class.
I allow three free days. As a
courtesy, please let me know when you will be taking a free day; no rationale
needed. After the three free days, each
undocumented absence results in a 15 point reduction. If a student is
absent on a day for which s/he is assigned to lead discussion or act as respondent,
the absence does not count as a free day.
If a student acquires more than three undocumented absences, s/he must
withdraw from the class. After the
deadline for withdrawal, the student will receive an F for the course. A note from a doctor, dentist, coach, or
funeral director -- with contact information -- is acceptable
documentation. The student must present
the note on the day that he or she
returns to class, otherwise the absence will be counted as undocumented. Without such a note, or in the case of a late
note, the absence will not be counted as documented. Please note
that a phone call or email message saying that you are ill is not sufficient,
nor is a note from the health center confirming an appointment.
Online Syllabus:
This online syllabus can be accessed through the Blackboard course page
but I recommend that you bookmark it so as to bypass BB when it goes down. I might well alter the assignment schedule as
seems appropriate or necessary; but I will not change the grading policies.
Email:
Email Communications: Students are responsible for checking the online
syllabus and their email every day. I will announce any and all changes via
email -- e.g., a changed deadline or altered reading assignment.
No
Emailed Assignments: I cannot accept them unless you clear it with me in advance and only under unusual
circumstances. While I appreciate that
print costs are considerable, I consider them a legitimate part of college
expenses. Running out of pay for print
is not a valid reason for submitting an assignment by email.
Computer Failure: It is not a valid excuse for a late assignment. Be sure to back up. Broken or unreliable computer? Use the computers at the college computer
labs.
Academic dishonesty in any form -- including plagiarism of self or
others, falsified documentation of a doctor’s note, etc. -- will not be
tolerated. Cheating of any kind results,
without exception, in an “F” for the course without the option of withdrawal.
Food in
class: Drinks and snacks of the very quiet variety are
allowed in class (e.g., poi, rasgula, duck pate), nothing else.
No
activated cell phones in the classroom (so please turn them off). Texting is never allowed.