RELI 314 - Samurai, Kamikaze, and the Rising Sun: The History of Shinto

This course provides an overview of the history of Shinto in Japan. Recent scholarship has problematized the simplistic characterization of Shinto as the "indigenous religion of Japan." The course introduces students to the on-going scholarly debate over the category of "Shinto" and dissects from a historical perspective modern appropriations of Shinto discourses in relation to modernization, nationalism, and Japan's "self-image" in the world.