Centering the category "tradition," students theorize ways the concept has been announced and enacted in three overlapping spheres: religious contexts, academic debates, and law. We engage classical theories of continuity and change, recent theorizations of invention, articulation, discursive tradition, and contemporary examples of scholars and activists reclaiming the category. Adjacent conceptual terrain to be covered includes discourses of orthodoxy and authenticity. The course is driven in part by examples from students' research areas (e.g., ancestral invocations or the asserted status of sacred texts) in the service of our shared project to theorize claim-making about the standing of the past in the present.
4
UnitsLetter
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeGraduate students only
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeProfessor Johnson is great! I'd highly recommend taking this class, there was a lot of reading but it wasn't all required and the TAs were great. You can tell how much he cares about what he's teaching.
Loved this class - super interesting and counts for a few areas so its a good GE. There are readings/videos each week, we read parts of two books, and midterm and final are prompt guided essays. Professor is chill, accessible, and answers any questions students have - I want to take another class of his. I would definitely recommend this course!
Professor has such a superiority complex. Also gives more readings than any other class I've taken in all 4 years here. Avoid him if you can.
class is a good GE not too hard, graded on a midterm (2 mini essays), a news stories portfolio which is pretty easy, final (3 mini essays), and section attendance, and he gives out the questions to the test beforehand so you can study. overall easy course and engaging with current native american events.
Such an amazing lecturer, one of my favorite classes that I have taken at UCSB. Lecture attendance is not mandatory, but it is important to go to them to understand what is going on. He cares a lot about the class and the students, 110% recommend the professor and class.
This course was one of my favorite classes I have taken so far. Professor Johnson really cares about this subject and his students and is super easy to talk to outside of class time. If you do the readings and pay attention in lecture it is very easy to get a good grade. I also had an amazing TA but I think he is gone now:(
Janet Afary
3.6
Mayfair Yang
2.9