Bahá’í Studies
I wish to embark on a comparative, inter-disciplinary study of the Bahá’í religion and its growing world community. I want to focus specifically on <fill in the blank> (e.g. ______________)
In America today, there are very few universities offering courses that tie directly into the Bahá’í Faith, its rich textual canons, historical traditions, and social contexts and cultural forms. But by helping to establish a "Bahá’í Studies" discipline on this campus, I hope to contribute to the formal, academic recognition of this religious tradition, as well as contribute to its academic contributions to society. With so few professors and faculty familiar with the academic study of the Bahá’í Faith on this campus, I am highly appreciative that General Studies will allow us students the chance to exercise such creativity in designing a major!
Basically, I plan to employ student-initiated independent study, internship, and focus group options, as well as existing courses from International Studies, Comparative Religion, and Comparative History of Ideas. In order to reduce the number of UW faculty signatures required for Bahá’í Studies, I may be asking to transfer credits from other universities which may include Landegg International University, http://www.landegg.edu/ (note: the UW has already accepted a student's tranfer credits from there under the category of "general electives"). These credits would substitute for my independent study credits in section IB below.
Just some final comments on the Bahá’í Studies requirements below:
I'm hoping that the three courses listed under IA will be easy courses on which to "piggy back" a 2-credit focus group, considering that the professors are already engaged in a course that would allow for the discussion of a diversity of religions.
If transfer credits are not achieved under the IB requirements, I'm hoping to secure signatures to do independent study via faculty in any of the departments listed below (e.g. Comparative History of Ideas, Comparative Religion, International Studies, the I.S. Middle East track, History, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, etc.)
Section II should be self-explanatory. Because the Bahá’í Faith and its precursor, the Babí Faith, arose out of 19th century Persia and Islamic traditions, and because its adherents in those lands are still persecuted today by Islamic orthodox religious clergy, I wish to complement my major with a deeper appreciation for the social context in which the Bahá’í Faith arose.
I'm excited about the possibility of doing direct service for the Bahá’í community, and/or its administration as part of my learning experience. I wish for sections III and IV to address specific research and service needs of some local, national, or international body of the Bahá’í community. Perhaps I will intern for a Bahá’í-inspired non-profit, academic, or administrative body of the Bahá’í community.
Finally, I'm including a year minimum of Persian or Arabic in section V. I understand it will not count toward my General Studies requirements, but since these the original textual cannons of the Bahá’í movement were written in these languages, it would be useful to have some familiarity with it. And besides, the UW requires a year of foreign language to graduate.
Thank you for considering my proposal. My hope is that one day, my Bahá’í
scholarship on this campus will contribute to the academic and social
development of the campus community as well as of Bahá’í communities far and
wide. May this endeavor contribute to the blossoming of a new program in Bahá’í
Studies that may be housed permanently by a department like Comparative
Religion, or even develop into a "Bahá’í Chair of Peace Studies," like
the one at the University of Maryland!
I. Comparative Religious Studies
(36 credits)
A. Required courses to be taken in
conjunction with each other.
B. Comparative Religion's
required rubrics of study (textual canons, historical traditions, and social
contexts and cultural forms)
II. Middle East/Islamic Studies (15 credits; all 15 credits must be 300/400-level coursework):
Choose from approved interdisciplinary electives from SISME, RELIG, or NEAR E, related to student's area of interest.
III. Internship w/ Bahá’í Community (10 credits)
IV. Senior Project (5 credits)
V. Suggested Language (optional) (30 credits)
*Indicates must be approved by a faculty sponsor.
----------------------do not write below this line----------------------
Faculty sponsor's signature _____________________________________________
Date ______________________________
The Bahá’í Studies major was designed by students across several disciplines and offers to interested undergraduate students an opportunity to study Bahá’í textual canons, historical traditions, and social contexts and cultural forms by combining coursework from existing UW courses and supplemented by independent study, "focus groups," and internship options.
The Bahá’í Studies major will be housed temporarily in General Studies, until another department formally adopts it. The General Studies program is an academic unit dedicated to interdisciplinary undergraduate study. Students and/or faculty may design individual or semi-formalized majors that draw from more than one academic discipline.
Students interested in pursuing the Bahá’í Studies major, please follow these procedures:
Bahá’í Studies faculty advisers
?
Bahá’í Studies staff
?
General Studies adviser
David Sayrs
171 Mary Gates Hall
206-616-7302
dsayrs@u.washington.edu
Bahá’í Student Association Home Page
University of Washington
Undergraduate Gateway Center
advice@u.washington.edu
May 2001