RELIGN 11
Religion in Los Angeles
Description: Lecture, four hours. Introduction to varieties of religious experience in Los Angeles and its environs. Presentations, required readings, and (where possible) site visits to examine selected faiths and spiritual practices throughout Southern California and provide deeper understanding of myriad ways that sacred is made manifest and encountered. Foundational academic orientations within study of religion (anthropological, historical, psychological, sociological, etc.) used as framework to examine and interpret almost unparalleled religious diversity of City of Angels. Recognizing that spiritual traditions are crucial reflection of region's ever-changing demographics, emphasis on role of ethnicity, gender, nationality, and race in shaping of religious landscape. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Easy class. Professor is really nice. There was a 10 page final report but he shortened it to 8 pages in the end. I'm not too religious but some parts of the class were interesting. Readings were okay too. Despite the final report being quite exhausting, I found it was a really nice experience. Basically, you can visit two different religious places, you don't have to but it is better if you do because it gives you more things to write about on your report. He lists down multiple locations and you have to compare and contrast the two religions. You can also write down your experience when you visited the locations. For the midterm and the final he gives you a study guide powerpoint which is quite a lot. All you have to do though is memorize the whole powerpoint because the exams are exactly the same as the powerpoint he provides. Technically you don't have to pay attention in lecture because you can just memorize the study guide, but paying attention in lecture and doing the readings will be better if you don't want to cram the whole material in a couple nights.
Fall 2018 - Easy class. Professor is really nice. There was a 10 page final report but he shortened it to 8 pages in the end. I'm not too religious but some parts of the class were interesting. Readings were okay too. Despite the final report being quite exhausting, I found it was a really nice experience. Basically, you can visit two different religious places, you don't have to but it is better if you do because it gives you more things to write about on your report. He lists down multiple locations and you have to compare and contrast the two religions. You can also write down your experience when you visited the locations. For the midterm and the final he gives you a study guide powerpoint which is quite a lot. All you have to do though is memorize the whole powerpoint because the exams are exactly the same as the powerpoint he provides. Technically you don't have to pay attention in lecture because you can just memorize the study guide, but paying attention in lecture and doing the readings will be better if you don't want to cram the whole material in a couple nights.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2019 - This was a really cool class and I thoroughly enjoyed professor Polk. Polk has been at UCLA for a really long time and he did a good job teaching this class objectively and then telling us his opinions about things separately. Polk was a really kind professor and his quizzes were really straightforward covering the readings which were really interesting. The assignments weren't hard and one of them was actually pretty cool because you just have to walk around an area (I chose westwood like many students) and talk about how religion manifests in the city. I thought this was a really cool class taught by an interesting professor and it was a great way to fulfill both the diversity requirement and a GE.
Summer 2019 - This was a really cool class and I thoroughly enjoyed professor Polk. Polk has been at UCLA for a really long time and he did a good job teaching this class objectively and then telling us his opinions about things separately. Polk was a really kind professor and his quizzes were really straightforward covering the readings which were really interesting. The assignments weren't hard and one of them was actually pretty cool because you just have to walk around an area (I chose westwood like many students) and talk about how religion manifests in the city. I thought this was a really cool class taught by an interesting professor and it was a great way to fulfill both the diversity requirement and a GE.
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