RST 230 - Health and Healing in Asian Contexts (3)

(Cross-referenced with ASN 230 .)

This course is an introduction to the intersections of religion and medicine in Asia. Throughout the semester, we will examine historical and contemporary healing practices related to Asian religions, including Yoga, Qigong, Meditation, and Ayurveda. We will also look at local traditions of spirit healing, and will focus on how religious beliefs and rituals shape and interact with views of the body, disease, health, and death. Further, this course provides an opportunity to question our own notions of “health,” “religion,” “healing,” and medicine.” We will focus on religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism and healing traditions across South and East Asia. At the end of the semester, we will examine the global spread of these practices, in particular their presence in the United States.