First-Year Seminar: Personhood, Identity and the Individual: How Religion Shapes Social Life

What is a person and how do we know this? This course investigates how different religious and cultural communities conceptualize human nature and the implications of these understandings for the ways we understand ourselves and organize public life. Readings include case studies from places including India, Nepal, and the United States. Students will also undertake a hands-on research project. The Honors version includes additional readings on economic personhood and assignments that ask students to analyze expressive performances in ways that draw on and extend learning goals from the course. Honors version available.