Explores the relationship between religion and popular culture. What can trends and the stories we tell one another teach us about power and the structures that pattern us? Topics covered can include superheroes, astrology, tarot, basketball, zombies, vampires, food, money, science fiction, ethnonationalism, yoga, reality television, music festivals, ouija boards, Christian rock, Oprah, kitsch, the art world, magic, death metal, psychonauts, hip hop, architecture, and the war on Christmas.
5
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeTake RGST13! Joseph is thought provoking and intelligent. The themes, and concepts presented in this class are applicable to our world on many different levels.The course is complicated and so are the readings and tests. Written tests, graded by TA's, therefore good grades are subject to TA, extra credit is necessary, do as much EC as you can!
Absolutely loved this class. It completely changed the way I view the world and while the readings were dense at times, they were really rich. Everything graded pretty leniently and lots of opportunities for extra credit. Prof is clearly passionate about the subject and was very helpful in office hours.
Incredibly performative and insincere in both his teaching and interactions with students. Texts were too long and dense for a GE class, the TA got me through them. Take this class if you don't care about your professor being full of himself and a fake activist. He masks this insincerity by being a dynamic speaker, but he is the worst.
Professor Blankholm is a fantastic speaker. The content he speaks about is occasionally long-winded but he makes it engaging regardless. The readings are dense but get oversimplified during lecture (which is for the best). The tests require little studying/preperation if you consistently attend lecture and do the readings. Would recommend!
I really enjoyed this class because I found the content to be really interesting. It's really reading heavy, and I struggled through a good bit of them, but my TA was super helpful. It was a lot of work, so not an easy GE but still a great class. If you go to class and do the readings you should do fine. Offers extra credit, helpful office hours
Least favorite professor I've ever had. Very performative when it comes to social justice, and he has a raging superiority complex. Class was not as described in GOLD; readings were extremely dense and long for a GE arts class. Feigns respect for students' concerns and social justice issues. Overall, this class always left me feeling frustrated.