Entering my Comp Cave

On BBC's Sherlock the titular character retreats into his "mind palace" -- a repository of memory and crucial bits of information -- in order to solve some of the more challenging mysteries he is facing and cannot seem to overcome through his prowess in the powers of deduction. In Sherlock's "mind palace" there are halls and doors in, and behind, which lay the keys to unlocking the most difficult of enigmas. It's pretty flippin' cool...not to mention handy. 

I tell you this because in late October and November 2016 I will be taking what are known as "comprehensive examinations," "qualifying examinations," or "comps." I will need to construct my own version of a "mind palace" to pass them. 

In the University of Florida Religion graduate program qualifying examinations form a bridge between course work and dissertation research. They are meant to assess the student’s familiarity with the essential works, authors, issues, methods, and theories that have defined their respective fields of study. Further, students must demonstrate their capacity to think “on their feet,” being able to synthesize critically -- and in a limited time span -- the extant literature and take an informed position vis-à-vis it. Each exam is five hours long and under normal circumstances the exams are administered one-per-week over a period of four weeks. 

To say the least, these are kind of a big deal. In the months leading up to the "comps" graduate students are expected to immerse themselves in their readings and be prepared to cite, critique, and call upon these readings as they sit their exams. 

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And so I decided that if Sherlock has a "mind palace" then I should have a "comp cave." Or, perhaps, my very own "comp cathedral." 

Essentially, the aim is to first retreat into my "comp cave" to properly prepare for the exams in the Fall. Thus, as I get into the "thick" of my book/article list I am going to step away from life as usual and instead pursue an intensive season of reading and reflection. This means I will not be blogging, publishing, or speaking from now until after my exams.

Indeed, other than a few commitments to speaking (see my Public Speaking page for more info) and an editorial project for an upcoming encyclopedia on religion in Latin America that I've already committed to, I will not be doing any other public work as a scholar until January 2017. 

Instead, I will read books like Islam is a Foreign Country and The Making of Salafism as I prepare for my exam in the area of "Global Islam;" I will acquaint myself with theories of transnationalism, borderlands, and hybridity in the American hemisphere through works like Juan Soldado: Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint and The Americas: A Hemispheric History; I will come to appreciate the breadth and depth, ruptures and continuities of North American religious history through texts such as Religion and American Culture: A Reader and Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America; and finally I will familiarize myself with the historical complexity and stunning contemporary diversity of religion in Latin America by reading works The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross: Witchcraft, Slavery, and Popular Religion in Colonial Brazil, In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery in Amazonia, and Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala under General Efrain Rios Montt 1982-1983 and more.

And so,  I enter into my "comp cave" to get these readings done. The hope is that by October I will have transformed my cave into a vaulted and mentally visualized cathedral where I can readily locate a set of theories, memories, and critical reflections on these readings and themes. This will be my "comp cathedral," from whence I will rely on the historically grounded "method of loci" -- also known as memory theater, the art of memory, the memory palace, or, in the world of Sherlock, the mind palace -- to pass my comprehensive exams and enter into the next phase of my doctoral work on religion. 

When I get to the other side, I'll be sure to let you know how it all went. It is also my intention to take what I've learned and to go on reporting and commenting on religion and culture news and happenings via my blogging, op-eds, and analysis pieces for public, popular, and academic publications. In the end, this work will be better because of my time in the "comp cave." And honestly, I'm looking forward to it. 

With that folks, I'm off into my cave. I will see you in January 2017. 

The WHY of religion newswriting, from the source

A guest from Meghan Mangrum, graduate student in the University of Florida's College of Journalism & Communications who is enrolled in #UFreligion's "Religion and the News" class.

The halls of inner-city Chicago Catholic schools, gay-rights events in Havana, the Mexico-American border and refugee communities in Italy - Megan Sweas’ work has taken her all over the world.

She has met with Cuban gay rights activists who are only partly out of the closet, disadvantaged youth striving for a better life in Chicago’s Cristo Rey Catholic Schools, a Nigerian-American student studying the Quran and her faith, nuns and priests who provide safe houses for refugees caught up in Europe’s refugee crisis in Italy, and so many more.

Sweas is a self-proclaimed “writer, editor and student of life,” based currently in Los Angeles, California, and predominantly covers social and economic justice issues, as well as world religions.

Raised Catholic (and currently a “practicing, nonbelieving Catholic”), her coverage of religion was not happenstance.

God Beat 101: An Introduction to Religion & the News

Today is the day! For the next 15 weeks over 30 students and I will explore the ins-and-outs of religion reporting and how to analyze, critique, and comment on religion news. 

Such a class, and conversation, is vitally important in this present moment. It is impossible to think about religion without noticing the news. It is impossible to be a journalist without understanding something about religion. Religion is at the center of multiple headlines and news stories the world over. Whether it is politics, personal issues or the palpable effects of religious extremism in the public sphere, religion plays a significant role in the world. To ignore this fact is to do so at our peril. How do we make sense of these stories? How do we critique the coverage or question the approach of the journalists? How could we play an active part in producing and analyzing such news? 

*Read an interview of Ken about the course from Get Religion

These questions will help participants cover the importance of religion reporting in an age of simultaneous religious pluralism and illiteracy and discuss news as a primary portal for knowledge about religion. It aims to give students an opportunity to give voice to why they report on religion, from a personal perspective and familiarize students with the multiple representations and expressions of religion, discussing how we can define religion in a pluralistic age. 

Students will also get the chance to know what resources, methods and theories are available for religion newswriting and then to write and publish blogs, articles and analysis pieces for public consumption. This is not a passive class with a theoretical end, but an active class with practical and real-time applications and assignments. 

The hope is that students will find value in this course as we attempt to appreciate religious diversity and seek to develop objective religious observation and reporting. All the while, we will not deny real religious differences, nuances in coverage and the need to appreciate local stories in dynamic dialectic with global trends. This will help journalists, or analysts, avoid dogmatism and instead promote reports on the mutually shared human quest to understand the transcendent, share it with the people of the world and do so from a perspective of generous curiosity, humble awe, and equitable scrutiny. 

I invite you to take a look at the SYLLABUS for the course and to stay tuned as students post religion news content, analysis, and commentary on our course website, which I will link to on this blog. If you have any questions, comments, or want to "audit" the course let me know! 

What have we learned about Islam?

When I tell people that I study global Islam the reaction usually goes something like this:

“Ohhhhhhhh, that’s interesting.” 

Two or three beats pass…wait for it, then the shoe drops: “You know, I actually have a question for you. I’ve always wondered [INSERT QUESTION,  CONUNDRUM, OR NEWS SOUNDBITE HERE].” 

Islam is, unfortunately, a very hot topic of conversation. Sometimes, I wish I studied the most boring, obscure, and esoteric religious topic so that when I told people what I study they would say, “how interesting,” not really mean it, and then casually change the topic of conversation. But that’s just not the case. The questions keep coming. The headlines continue to splash across our screens. My area of study remains relevant. 

In truth, I relish the opportunity to talk to people about religion — especially global Islam. I learn much from my studies with Muslims and non-Muslims alike and enjoy sharing that with others via blogs, news pieces, and in the classroom. In that spirit, this semester I was honored to work alongside the legendary Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons teaching the UF Religion Department’s Intro. to Islam course. 

At the end of the class I asked all of the students to reflect on three questions: 1) what is the single most insightful thing you learned this semester? 2) What is one thing you would tell someone who has yet to take this class? 3) What is one question you still have? 

What follows is a break-down of the TOP THREE things that students learned and would share with others outside the class (there was significant overlap) and the TOP THREE questions they still had. These reflections help us understand what is most relevant to the discussion of Islam that is going on in politics, social circles, and places of worship and devotional practice across the world. Furthermore, they act as a catalyst for further conversations and questions to be answered — both here and in those confabs you and I might have sometime when I tell you that yes, indeed, I study global Islam. 

“Oh, that’s interesting” you say? Let’s talk… 

Top Three Takeaways:

1) Islam is a big, diverse, unique, and complex global religion

You can say that again. Multiple students reflected on how their image of Islam coming into the class was overly simplistic. However, as they left the class students mused that they learned “about the diversity of the umma — the global Muslim community” and just how “deep, beautiful, and informative Islam is.” That student further said, “there are just too many specifics to list, this class has really opened my eyes.” Finally, striking the same chord, another student shared, “the complexity and breadth of Islam is something I had not recognized before.” 

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Check out this super-cool class of Intro. to Islam students...what a shame they had that dorky-looking TA up front. 

As Shahab Ahmed intimated in What is Islam? the main challenge in interpreting Islam is coming to terms with the considerable diversity of beliefs, practices, and postures of global Islam while simultaneously appreciating that there are shared principles which act as a cri de coeur for Muslims across the world.

The uncomfortable truth is that essentialized conceptualizations that say "Islam = violence" or "Islam = peace" are insensitive to the alterations and negotiations that characterizes lived Islam in interaction with myriad Muslim constituencies and non-Muslim actors throughout the world. 

An introductory class presents students with this complexity and invites them to capture not necessarily what Islam is or is not, but the many different ways that Muslims live, move, and believe in this world while learning to critically think about what this complexity means in the world we live in. 

2) The basics are important

Even so, students also reflected that there is a unity that runs through the story of Islam since its inception in the 7th-century. Students appreciated learning more about Muhammad — the first Muslim and the living Qur’an, its history, the basics of the Qur’an and the Sunna — the traditions of the prophet, and foundations of Muslim theology, philosophy, and practice. 

As students could readily appreciate this course could only whet their appetites to learn more. As one student shared, “I learned so much only to realize I still know so little. This can’t be the end of my exploration.” Amen. 

3) Islam is not necessarily what you see/hear in the news or on social media

Overwhelmingly, students came away surprised about how the image of Islam presented in the public and in popular discourse is a distorted and inaccurate one. One student said, “I would invite people to learn more about Islam even if they think they know all about it from the news. The truth is — they don’t.” Some students made it personal and shared, “I didn’t know anything about this religion before I started” but “if you’re non-Muslim take this class to undue the popular ideas that are out there and wrong,” and “if you’re Muslim take it see how non-Muslims view your religion.” One student was unequivocal about this point and said, “don’t believe the media. The representations of Islam on social media are not accurate. Do your own research, take a class like this, and learn about Islam for yourself.” 

As a member of “the media” and an active agent on sites such as Facebook and Twitter I take comments like these personally. While I am invariably impressed with the quality, and creative, content that religion newswriters are able to produce on complex topics, there are occasionally weak stories, missed opportunities or the need for more nuance or critical insight — especially when it comes to Islam and specifically when it comes to broadcast news. 

My students tend to agree. I think we should listen. They spend a lot of time on those new-fangled-smart-phone-thingies and the way Islam is constructed, represented, and controlled via news and social media has significant implications for them Classes can help, but they cannot undo all the injurious images of Islam shared across media platforms.

Top Three Questions Lingering: 

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Our main text for the class. While it certainly has its weaknesses, it provided a solid foundation for discussion along with other resources and primary documents. 

With everything students learned, questions still lingered. The top three were: 1) Where, and how, does ISIS/ISIL/Daesh fit in? 2) Is global Islam still growing? If so, is it trending toward “fundamentalism” or “progressivism?” 3) What can we do to end Islamophobia? 

Behind each of these questions are real concerns. While students in this class felt they understood more about the religion as a whole they were still uncomfortable with how that matches up with the actions of Muslims who are part of ISIS, whether or not this is the future of the faith, and how others are going to treat Muslims based on popular misperceptions and media-fed monstrosities.

What next?  

As I told them at the end of the class, they are now “scholars of Islam.” Although there is much more to learn and questions needing continual conversation (hey, you can’t cover everything in one semester and you need to get a basic hold of the foundations before you can tackle more complex issues), these students now know more than at least 70% of the population…if not much more. 

Thus, the conversation must continue. We need to maintain the relevant discussion between people of multiple perspectives, faiths, and practices — Muslim and non-Muslim, in our local communities and across the globe. 

I was personally awe-struck by the sheer caliber of the students who took this class this semester. Their passion for the topic, the candor of their questions, and the effort they put into learning the material and discussing difficult topics was humbling. I can only hope that they are a vanguard for these exchanges. I also sincerely hope their learning does not stop there and they become ambassadors for peacemaking and religious literacy in a world all to often torn apart by identity politics (“us” vs. “them” mentalities) and flat-out ignorance. 

Now, to grade their finals…

Studying 'the God Beat': Religion & the News 101

It is impossible to think about religion without noticing the news. It is impossible to be a journalist without understanding something about religion. Religion is at the center of multiple headlines & news stories the world over. This course will explore both the production, and reception, of religion in the news investigating what it takes to be on “the God beat” and what kinds of conversations such a beat creates, questions, & critiques.

Such a class, such a conversation, is vitally important in this present moment. Exploring several news site home pages I was able to find religion headlines on every single one -- about conflict in Israel, about burned churches in the Midwest, nature spirituality in the Pacific, abstinence in Britain, Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria. How do we make sense of these stories? How do we critique the coverage or question the approach of the journalists? How could we play an active part in producing and analyzing such news? 

Building off my experiences as a freelance journalist, news analyst, and researcher engaged in the academic study of religion I am offering a course in partnership with the University of Florida's Religion department and Journalism School (one of the Top Ten in the U.S.) -- Religion & the News (REL 3938/JOU 4930).

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Weimer Hall at the University of Florida, Gainesville. 

This course will cover the importance of religion reporting in age of religious illiteracy & discuss news as a primary portal for knowledge about religion. It aims to give students an opportunity to give voice to why they report on religion, from a personal perspective and familiarize students with the multiple representations and expressions of religion, discussing how we can define religion in a pluralistic age. Students will also get the chance to know what resources, methods, and theories are available for religion newswriting and be given the opportunity to write and publish blogs, articles, and analysis pieces for public consumption. Basically, this is not a passive class with a theoretical end, but an active class with practical and real-time applications and assignments. 

The course will be offered Tuesdays 1:55-2:45pm and Thursdays 1:55-3:50pm and more information about registration and course details are available HERE (Course Listings) and HERE (Registration). Interested in auditing the course? Talk to me!