Graduate Calendar Archives: 1998 / 1999

Religion

Dunton Tower 2121
Telephone: 520-2100

The Program

Coordinator, J.G. Ramisch
Supervisor of Graduate Studies, J.P. Dourley

The Religion program offers studies leading to the Master of Arts.

Master of Arts

Admission Requirements

The minimum requirement for admission to the master’s program is an Honours bachelor’s degree in religion (or the equivalent) with at least high honours standing.

Applicants who do not hold an Honours degree in religion (or the equivalent) will be required to register in a qualifying-year program before proceeding to the master’s program.

The regulations governing the qualifying year are outlined in the General Regulations section of this Calendar.

Program Requirements

Students are required to complete 5.0 credits as follows:

• Religion 34.500
• 34.501
• 34.502
• 34.503
• 34.599

34.501 and 34.502, must be taken in two different areas other than the student’s thesis area. Seminars in other units may be substituted for 34.501 and 34.502 with permission of the department. The department particularly encourages students to consider Anthropology 54.543 (also listed as Religion 34.543) as a substitute for 34.501 or 34.502 if anthropology of religion is not their thesis area.

The student’s program will be worked out in consultation with, and with the approval of, the department’s supervisor of graduate studies and its committee on graduate studies. The prescribed program will take into account the student’s background and special interests, as well as the research interests and competence of the staff.

Deadlines

Thesis Proposal

In the case of the thesis program, full-time students will normally submit their thesis proposal to the thesis proposal board by the end of the first month of their second term in the master’s program.

Thesis

Regulations governing requirements for the master’s thesis, including deadlines for submission, are outlined in the General Regulations section of this Calendar, Section 12.

Guidelines for Completion of Master’s Degree

Full-time students in the master’s program are normally expected to complete all requirements within two years of entry into the program. Part-time students normally complete all requirements within five years of the date of entry into the program.

Language Requirements

The student will be required to acquire, or to demonstrate that he/she already has, a reading knowledge of whatever language is essential to his/her research.

Students are advised to consult the program handbook for further regulations.

Graduate Courses

Not all of the following courses are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for 1998-99, please consult the Registration Instructions and Class Schedule booklet published in the summer.

F,W,S indicates term of offering. Courses offered in the fall and winter are followed by T. The number following the letter indicates the credit weight of the course: 1 denotes 0.5 credit, 2 denotes 1.0 credit, etc.

Religion 34.500T2

Graduate Seminar in Religion

A seminar on theories and methods in the study of Religion. Compulsory for M.A. students.

Religion 34.501F1, W1, S1

Directed Studies in Religion

Religion 34.502F1, W1, S1

Directed Studies in Religion

Religion 34.503T2, S2

Tutorial

A tutorial preparing the student in the general area of their thesis. Normally taken with the thesis supervisor.

Religion 34.543F1 or W1
The Anthropology of Signs and Symbols

This course will examine various theoretical and methodological approaches to the anthropology of signs and symbols, their internal workings, and their relationship to other aspects of social life. These approaches may include structural and post-structural semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism, critical anthropology, neuroanthropology, hermeneutics, and phenomenology. Discussions are grounded through illustrative analyses of concrete case studies and exemplary cases of possible interpretive strategies.
(Also listed as Anthropology 54.543)
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department.

Religion 34.599F4, W4, S4
M.A. Thesis