Education Projects

National University of Singapore

Started in August 2009, the NUS Faith and Globalisation course develops a nuanced understanding of multi-faceted expressions of religiosity in the contemporary world. It explores various cultural and economic forces that affect faith communities in different societies, and also religion’s corresponding influence on society.

By the end of the semester, students will have learnt to evaluate the frameworks used to study religion, and to understand the historical contexts of the changing role of religions in various societies and social processes, such as colonisation, modernisation and globalisation.

The course includes sessions on religion and migration; religion and gender; urban forms of religiosity; religion and the internet; fundamentalisms; religion in the public sphere; and the relation between traditional expressions of religion and new religious movements.

"Apart from the intriguing topics that we are assigned to read, the best part about this course is the amount of enthusiastic discussion in class and on the online forum. Since we all come from a wide range of backgrounds, there have been many fascinating experiences shared with regards to our personal encounters with religion.

With ten more weeks to go till the end of the semester, we are all looking forward to engaging more guest speakers in class and are eagerly anticipating discussions with our Yale counterparts in the later half of the semester. We have much to share with them, and hope our discussions continue in the same enthusiastic vein as the past three weeks."

Song Xiuhua Shafiqah Nadiah

(NUS student gives her reflections on the course so far)

Please click below to view the NUS course website, the syllabus and the recommended readings