PHUV9420 Religiøst mangfold i offentligheten Emneplan

This course explores the causes and consequences of religious diversity in a number of societies. The course combines insights from the social sciences and humanities, including philosophy and gender studies, with case studies from different national contexts. We pay particular attention to religious diversity in institutional settings like schools, higher education, health, and the military. The participants will be exposed to a wide range of empirical and theoretical approaches to the causes and consequences of religious diversity as well as some key concepts and measurements of religious diversity. The course will also discuss political and practical solutions to situations in which different sets of rights and values are mutually exclusive, as the dilemmas that arise when the right to freedom of religion conflicts with other human rights and key democratic values.

Knowledge

The candidate has in-depth knowledge of:

• language as a tool in encounters between professional practitioners and their clients, with and without interpreters
• communication challenges in situations with language barriers
• relevant theories on dialogical and monological understandings of language, and on oral and written communication in encounters with language barriers
• the relationship between language and power in situations with language barriers

Skills

The candidate:

• can critically analyze their own material in terms of language, communication and interpreting
• can identify and analyze how language barriers and interpreting affect communication and professional behavior

General competence

The candidate:

• can use theories on language and communication to elucidate their own research material;
• can select and apply appropriate methods for analyzing language barriers and communication challenges

Organized tuition is given in the form of lectures and workshops. The course consists of two parts. The first part is a two-days workshop at OsloMet with mandatory participation. In lectures and discussions, students will be introduced to relevant theories and methods. The last part is a one-day mandatory workshop at OsloMet. In addition, there will be online learning activities. Candidates are expected to participate in all learning activities, both online and on-site. Candidates are expected to give oral and written feedback on other students’ work.

Preparations for the course

Candidates are expected to read the syllabus and to prepare a presentation before the course to be able to participate in discussions and activities.

In addition to mandatory participation at both workshops, the coursework requirements are:

• Prepare an oral presentation of five minutes for the first workshop. The topic of the presentation must relate to questions of religious diversity and pluralism in a way that is relevant to the participant’s research project. Following the presentation, there will be a comments and discussion session of five to ten minutes.
• Write a draft paper based on the oral presentation, which shall be submitted one week before the second workshop. The paper draft should be minimum of 1000 and maximum 2500 words.
• Written and oral feedback: Each student will comment on one co-students draft paper, both in writing (250-500 words) and orally (3-5 minutes).

Attendance

80 % attendance of the time of the course is required. If a student has attended at least 60 % of the course but less than 80 %, he/she must submit an extra paper of at least 3000 words plus reference list on a topic provided by the course coordinators.

The student writes an individual paper of between 3000 and 8000 words, excluding the list of references (based on the drafts from the second workshop described above in Learning and teaching forms). The paper must be written in English, Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish.

New/postponed exam

If the paper is graded with "fail", the candidate must submit a revised version within a given time limit.

The grades are "pass" or "fail". The requirement for "pass" is that paper builds on the learning outcomes and on parts of the syllabus.

The paper will be assessed by the course coordinator and a member of the academic staff involved in the PhD-program.;

Target group

The course is directed at PhD students and academic staff who conduct research on questions related to the social consequences of religious pluralism, including the challenges of religious diversity in classrooms, schools, health stations and other public places, human rights and public governance, friction between gender equity and religiously legitimized gender roles, and the effects of changing ethno-religious composition on local communities.

Admission requirements

The admission requirement is a five-year master’s degree (three years + two years) or equivalent qualifications in teacher education, other pedagogical education, educational science, development studies, or other education on equivalent level in subjects relevant for teacher education.

In case of a large number of applicants, PhD-students enrolled in the PhD programme in Educational Sciences for Teacher Education will be prioritized, then students in other PhD-programmes, then academic employees at the Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies.

Applicants that are not enrolled on the PhD-programme at the Faculty of Education and International Studies at OsloMet must send a summary in English of maximum one A4 sheet with relevant information about their own project / area of interest, containing topic, methodology, theoretical approach, and why this course might be relevant for their project.