The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Bridgette Hajduk

Annie Wright School,Tacoma, WA
Comparative World Religions

 

Project Proposal

I propose to take twelve students in my world religions class throughout the Spring semester to different religious communities found in the local Tacoma and Seattle area. I would arrange to take students to one or two different kinds of places of worship or community centers as a part of each unit. This would be a maximum of ten field visits over the course of the spring semester.

The units in my course include Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I would choose two different places (if scheduling for the field trips works with the larger school calendar) for each unit so that the students are exposed to different branches of each faith tradition. For example, in the Buddhism unit we might visit a Shin-Buddhist Church and a Cambodian Buddhist Center.

Resources

•  Fieldwork Resources

•  Final Project Assignment Sheet

•  Rough Draft Expectations

•  Final Project Grade Sheet

•  Classroom Resources
(All assignments are based on articles from the CD-ROM "On Common Ground" and article titles are suggested at the top of the worksheet.)

•  World Religions

•  Hinduism in America

•  Islam in America

•  Asian Immigration Issues

•  Asian Immigration Debate

•  Asian Immigration Debate Evaluation

•  Essay Topics for Papers

•  Sample Projects from Students

•  "Tacoma: A Pluralistic Community?"  by Carrie Lorenson
A thoughtful overview of pluralism in Tacoma voiced in an article format.

•  "A Day Tour of Pluralism in Tacoma"  by Ran Tao and Nobuka Nakamura
This was an ambitious project that attemps to explore different Buddhist temples and Christian churches in the Tacoma community.

•  "Pluralism and the First United Methodist Church in Tacoma"  by Katy Smith
This project reflects a solid attempt to explore pluralism in a Methodist church in Tacoma, WA. The project highlights one student's effort to view her own faith community through a new lens.