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Scholarship March 29, 2017

“Using Student Ethnography to Teach Sociology of Religion”

The Wabash Center

Author
Hamilton, William T. and Kellen Gilbert
Publisher
Teaching Theology and Religion 8, no. 4 (2005): 239-244
Engaging students in a course in the Sociology of Religion can be a challenge, particularly when working with student populations in a homogeneous region of the country who have limited experience with religious diversity. We approached the course from a sociological/anthropological perspective, requiring each student to complete an in-depth participation/observation research experience and write an ethnographic account of a religion or belief system different from his or her own. While other instructors have used a similar pedagogy, using ethnography with our student population was generally successful as a learning and writing tool.