240032 VO Anthropology of Religion, Magic and Witchcraft (3.3.5) (2022S)

This course focuses on the anthropology of religion, magic and witchcraft. It will take into consideration and analyze human religious experiences from an anthropological perspective, by focusing on topics such as debates about definitions and the origin of “religion”, cosmology, myth and social memory, ritual, magic, witchcraft, ghosts, spirit possession, shamanism, religious healing, spirituality and secularization.

In doing so, it will also provide a historical overview of anthropological theories on these topics, thus informing students on the history of the anthropology of religion as a discipline.

Ethnographic examples from a variety of societies will be analyzed and discussed, in order to illustrate the wealth of religious experiences that exists around the world. Especially examples about East Asian and Japanese religions (including ascetic and shamanic practices) will be central, although also World Religions, contemporary New Age in the West, as well as classical examples about African or Native American religious practices will be taken into consideration.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
- Students will learn the historical development of anthropological theories and debates regarding religion and ritual, thus familiarizing with terminology and concepts.
- Students will learn to understand religious and spiritual phenomena in their social context.
- Students will gain an understanding of religion as an institution through which gender, class, identity, morality, health and personhood are expressed and performed.
- Students will examine the ways in which religions and their adherents respond to social, political and economic changes.
- Students will use appropriate methodological tools to formulate scholarly arguments