In 1971, Ontario schools introduced a course called World Religions into the curriculum for senior high school students.
Carleton master’s student Lauren Barkley became curious about why that course was introduced at that particular time in history and how the context of the times shaped the tone and content of the course.
“My research demonstrated that the course was designed to promote a sympathetic understanding of various religions in the face of changing demographic patterns in the 1960s and 70s,” says Barkley.
She then tracked changes to the course throughout the past several decades and determined the reasons for these modifications while highlighting some of the problems that she concluded the course still poses.
Barkley is part of the first cohort to graduate from Carleton with a degree in Religion and Public Life.
She says she was attracted to the program because she wanted to participate in a brand new program in an emerging and increasingly visible field of research. While the Religion and Public Life program allows students to focus on current issues, one of the program’s strengths is how the MA broadly explores these themes in a variety of historical contexts and religious traditions, around the world, from antiquity to the 21st century.
Barkley is grateful for the assistance she received. “The community of professors, support staff and other students was tight-knit and supportive and created a positive, stimulating atmosphere for research.”
“My primary research supervisor, Dr. Johannes Wolfart, was extremely patient and helpful throughout my research process,” says Barkley. “His expertise in using archival material was essential to my acquisition of data, and his comments on my work pushed me to continuously improve and deepen my conclusions.”
She also commends Dr. Deidre Butler, the program coordinator for the inaugural class. “She was very supportive and encouraging and instrumental in ensuring the success of all the students in the program.”
Barkley says she would recommend the Religion and Public Life program to others with an interest in religion and its interactions with social and political issues. “The coursework component gives students the necessary methodological and theoretical tools with which to complete their own research, the topic of which they choose themselves. The program can therefore be tailored to a student’s own particular research interests within the broad field of Religion and Public Life.
Barkley and her classmates graduated on Saturday, November 10.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 in Grad Student Research, News
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