REL 502 Public Humanities & Religious Studies: Foundations

See the University of Alabama version of this syllabus here.

Tr 1:30-3:20 pm, PRH 210

Nathan R.B. Loewen

nathan.loewen@ua.edu

Office: Presidents Hall 2302

Discussion hours: On Wednesday mornings, I will be available in the REL Digital Lab from 9am-Noon.

Course Description

This graduate seminar introduces students to public humanities and public humanities approaches to the study of religion. Students learn methods and tools for communicating theoretical and religious studies research to public audiences through digital media. Students are introduced to a number of digital tools for research, scholarly communication, and public engagement and will work to apply those tools to their individual research interests and goals.

Prerequisite(s): None, except admission to degree program

Course Objectives

  • The course will provide an introduction to the public humanities.
  • The course will introduce digital tools and platforms for scholarly communication and public engagement.
  • The course will discuss the current state of public humanities in the field of religious studies.

Student Learning Outcomes

In this course, we will:

  • Assess the history and state of public humanities.
  • Theorize the role of the academic and university in the production and distribution of knowledge.
  • Review the current state of public humanities among religious studies scholars, research groups, and institutions.
  • Build small prototypes of public humanities projects.
  • Review how to perform qualitative and/or quantitative data analysis using digital research platforms.

Course Materials

Required technology

All students will be expected to have access to high-speed internet and a computer. Several open, online platforms will be used in the course. Students will be expected to create accounts to access online platforms using their use their mybama username (e.g. Notion, Slack, Omeka, WordPress). On the first day of class, all students will be expected to establish their access to Adobe Creative Cloud through the Office of Information Technology’s software page.

Please note that Prof. Loewen may provide you with access to the REL Digital Lab and the Digital Humanities Lab in PRH307.

Class Requirements

Participation

You are required to attend all of our class sessions and come to each session prepared. Being prepared means having all preparatory assignments and tasks done on time, all reading completed, and ready to engage all discussions or activities for the class. In short, do everything in the “Before class” section of the schedule. Participation also means actively participating and communicating on the REL 502 Slack.

Show and Tells

Five times during the semester you will post an example of “public humanities in religious studies” to the Slack channel before class. In class, you will offer a brief (~5 minutes) informal presentation that introduces the example and explains why you think the example is “public humanities in religious studies,” who its audience is, and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are.

Blog Post

By 9 am every Wednesday morning, you will post a blog post to our course blog. The post should have up to 600 words (with images, links, or other objects). Each post should reflect on the reading for our class session the next day or, during the workshops, it should describe your experiences working on the prototypes and with the platforms.

Workshop Assignments

Four times during the semester you must present a small prototype digital project we will have spent two to three weeks working on. Your prototypes should represent you experiments with early ideas. The tasks are meant to introduce you to a few basic tools for presenting scholarship to public audiences.

Public Humanities Project Pitch

The capstone assignment in the course is a project pitch in which you will develop your own public humanities project around your research interests. More details on this as we get closer to the end of the semester.

Course Policies

As this is a graduate seminar, you are expected to attend the class, be prepared for the class, and participate in the class. Assignments and tasks are expected to be completed on time. If you miss class for any reason please let me know promptly so we can ensure you don’t fall behind. Unexcused absences, frequent tardiness, or a lack of participation will lower your grade for the course. If you have any questions or concerns about the course I am happy to talk to you.

The grade scale for the course is based on satisfactory completing the above requirements. Students will be consulted individually by the instructor if their work is unsatisfactory.:

  • A         Satisfactory completion of all requirements
  • B         Satisfactory completion of at least 90% of the requirements
  • C         Satisfactory completion of at least 80% of the requirements
  • D         Satisfactory completion of at least 70% of the requirements
  • F          Satisfactory completion of less than 70% of the requirements