Introducing Sophie

We've been looking at lots of different stuff. Last semester we did a module on Indigenous Religions (e.g. Maori, Native Americans, Shamanism) which was just fascinating.

We also did a module on death which was a bit gory!.

Currently one of my modules is looking at Religion and Culture and we're discussing the symbolism in Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia which is really cool!

I could go on and on about Religious Studies, it fascinates me so much!

In the indigenous religions module we looked at: Native Americans ( especially the Hopi tribe), Shamanism, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, Shinto and Cuban Santeria.

The Shamanism one was very interesting, especially from a gender angle, as we looked at it in South Korea which is quite patriarchal yet as most Shamans in S.Korea are female they use it as a way of overcoming some of the oppression they face. For example there's a myth called 'Princess Pari' which is basically used as a way of subtly criticizing patriarchal values and promoting a strong female character.

The death module was a little gory as the lecturer gave quite a graphic description of how the body decomposes! (which was a little stomach-chruning!). We looked at how we deal (or don't deal) with death in this country and then how other religions deal with death and how they have to adapt their rituals etc.

I've not personally done anything on Harry Potter but one girl in my class is doing her dissertation on the religious symbolism in Harry Potter which is quite cool. Your hypothesis of the links between the texts sounds interesting and I think I'll check those pod-casts out as they sound really interesting, thanks! That book on the X-files and religion sounds great (have to get saving up the pennies!)

Apparently my taste in music is really awful but I like Owl City, He is We (although I think they seem to have split up), Jack Johnson, and The Script.

I also have some really embarassing old 90's cheesy pop on my i-pod which I'm sort of both proud and ashamed of! Thank goodness for headphones!

We looked at Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. We also focused on the history of death in the West, looking at a study by Aries who noted how the way we deal with death has changed over time (e.g In the middle ages death was seen as savage because it just seemed to snatch people away and how now we've moved to the medicalisation of death where we attempt to tame is by hiding it away in hospitals etc.)

The Celtic book of the dead sounds really interesting! Have you come across the Tibetan book of the dead?