Women, Gender, Sexuality 397A - ST-Feminism,Science & Religion

Science and religion represent two powerful institutions, their histories intertwined and inextricably interconnected. Patriarchal institutions, often hostile to women and gender, feminists have challenged both with great vigor. This course examines these contestations using a comparative analysis of the United States and India. The founders of the United States imagined secularism as a separation of church and state--religion being relegated to the private, and to non-state actors. In contrast, the founders of India imagined secularism as pluralism-- the state actively supporting all religions. Despite these contrasting visions, there are animated challenges to secularism in both countries today. The "religious right" in the U. S. invokes its Judeo Christian origins to insist on the centrality of Christianity. Similarly, religious nationalists in India insist on privileging the dominant religion, Hinduism. The course will examine the complexities of the histories of science and religion, and our gendered visions of tradition and modernity. It will emphasize the defining role of gender, race, class and sexuality in the histories of science and religion in both contexts, and how these categories of difference continue to shape the gendered landscapes of religion and science India and the U. S. The course will include discussion on the new reproductive technologies, debates on evolution and the definitions of life, and our ecological futures.