PHL205: World Religions, Dr. Townsend Religious Site Visit Writing Assignment During your visit to a religious site/community, you will be a participant observer, that is, you should participate in the activities of the community (on whatever level you feel comfortable with) and deeply observe your surroundings and what other people are doing and saying, and how they are acting. You should jot down 'scratch notes' (in a small notebook, on your phone, etc.) to remind you of things that you observed, and then—ideally, later on the same day—you should write a short, but rich, descriptive, narrative about your experience. The purpose of this assignment is for you to connect what you’ve been learning in class— through lectures, discussions, and readings—with what you experience in-person in a local religious community. To that end, you should be incorporating terms and ideas that you have learned from the class in writing this paper (when applicable). Your paper should be not less than 3 full pages, double-spaced, in 12 point ‘Times New Roman’ font, with 1 inch margins and only your name as a header. You will turn your paper in through D2L Dropbox. See the syllabus for the due date of your paper based on the date of your site visit. Here are some questions you can use to help you write (you don’t have to answer every single one): • Setting and surroundings: Where is this religious site? Was the building constructed to be a religious site? How does the site fit with its surroundings? What does the outside of the building look like? What does the inside of the building look like? How are the inside and outside made to look or function like a religious site? • What Ritual activities were happening during your visit? What did you see religious people doing? Are certain scriptures recited? How did people act/conduct themselves? • Use your senses: How are images and symbols employed? How is sound used? Smell? Taste? Touch? Are religious narratives enacted physically or visually? • What are the demographics of this site? What kind of people visit this site? Are people divided into groups in any way? Are there ways that differences in gender, age, class and ethnicity are particularly evident? How are people dressed? Who are the religious ‘specialists’ or ‘experts’ here (i.e. priests, monks, etc.)? What are they doing? • Based on what you have learned about the religion of the site you visited, were the site itself and the activities at the site what you expected? What surprised you (if anything)? What was it that most interested you or caught your attention during your visit? Why? Be mindful that the plagiarism policy of the course syllabus applies to this and all written assignments in the class. You do not need to consult internet sources or any other outside sources. The assignment is to write a paper that demonstrates your writing skills through analyzing and interpreting your own direct observations at a religious site in light of your knowledge from the class. An 'A' paper will be very well written (spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc. count), demonstrate thoughtful engagement with the site visit, and make relevant connections with the class. PHL 205 Virtual Sites links Encyclopedia Britannica: Kumbh Mela Wikipedia: Kumbh Mela PBS Sacred Journeys: Kumbh Mela Emic Documentary on the Kumbh Mela Interviews at the Kumbh Mela
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