Witchcraft, Magic and The Dead

Description

This course aims to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about witchcraft, magic and the dead, as well as introducing students to key anthropological concerns such as ritual, symbolism and religion. This course provides an introduction to the anthropological study of witchcraft, magic, death, spirits, and afterlives. It takes inspiration from some of the classic works in anthropology and cultural history, as well as exciting new research that has greatly expanded our knowledge of these topics. In our first section we critically examine how we might approach ways of being that are often radically different from our own. It acts as a foundation for the topics that follow, encouraging us to place beliefs and practices in their historical and social contexts, and to understand why they have significance in people’s lives. The second part of the course explores deathways and spiritual realms in cross-cultural perspective. We carry out fieldwork at two sites in Christchurch. After the mid-semester break, our attention turns to witchcraft, sorcery, and witch-hunting in the past and in the contemporary world. We focus here on key themes that include relationships of power and subjugation, the roles of gender, and the politics of representation.