It's All Hallows' Eve! What sorts of “popular” magic and witchcraft will you be participating in?
The terms “magic” and “witchcraft” have multiple meanings in popular usage, in scholarship generally, and even in anthropology. These behavioral and symbolic forms exist or have existed in virtually all human societies and cultures and often carry value laden connotations. For example, in the West, “magic” may denote occult practices that exist in a separate domain from everyday life and refer to an unseen world. In contrast, in indigenous societies, witchcraft, magic and sorcery may permeate life and interpersonal relations in distinctive ways. Understood as two components within the greater anthropological domain of religion, we will explore witchcraft and magic as aspects of the supernatural that shed light on the cultures that produce them, including how people thought about themselves and others, and how they reacted to changes in their society. Throughout, our goal will be, not to promote or debunk belief and practice, but rather to understand them using approaches from anthropology and history, seeing them in social and political contexts and considering their place in people's lives.
Roughly half the semester will be devoted to exploring magic and witchcraft cross-culturally with ethnographic readings from Western and non-Western societies. The other half of the semester will focus on practices of healing that are rooted in spirituality. We will consider how these practices reflect patterns of belief and overlap with magic and witchcraft more broadly.
The class will comprise of a combination of lecture, film, ethnographic literature, and assessments based on essays and exams. In anthropology, to understand a topic holistically, reading widely on the topic is required.
Dr. Dori Beeler
ANTH 320
Spring 2020 | Lecture | 3 units
Tu/Th 4:00PM - 5:15PM
The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy will be offering five online courses this winter.
The Winter 2020 schedule is currently live and you can begin to register for courses on Monday, October 21st.
Session Dates: January 2 -24th
SOCY 101-01 –Basic Concepts in Sociology (SS) –Cozart–Online
SOCY 201-01 –Social Problems in American Society (SS) –Knisley –Online
SOCY 353-01/GWST 353-01 –Marriage and the Family (SS)–Cozart–Online
SOCY 355-01/GWST 355-01 –Sociology of Gender (SS) –Salisbury –Online
SOCY 374-01 –Drugs and Alcohol in Society –Hemmis –Online
]]>Today is the day!
Please join us for Dr. Dena Smith's reading and book signing on Monday, October 14th at 4 p.m. in the AOK Library Gallery at UMBC.
Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase.
See flier for more details!
Title of your research project: Deciphering Cultural Roles and Social Pressure on Parents of Children with Special Needs
Describe your project: I will be examining what social factors influence decisions made by parents of children with special needs. I will also be looking at how the world around children with special needs is typically regulated by people without special needs and how that may be biased and affect their development and childhood.
Who is your mentor for your project? Dr. Bambi Chapin, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy
How did you find your mentor? Why did you choose them? Dr. Chapin has been my faculty advisor since I transferred to UMBC in fall 2017. In fall 2019, I was in one of Dr. Chapin’s classes and that is when I realized that our research interests were similar. I thought she would be the right person to oversee my project with her extensive knowledge on parent-child relationships and children’s cognitive development.
How did you become interested in this project? I have always been interested in topics like genetics, genomics, heredity, and human history. While trying to narrow down on my future career choices, I was shadowing prenatal genetic counselors. With each case, I wanted to know what was going through the parents’ minds when either there was a high risk for their child having a genetic disease or their child was diagnosed. There seemed to be bountiful layers and possibilities on what affected those parents when it came to making a decision to either get tested to know if the child has a disease for sure, or not to risk doing a procedure that causes a higher miscarriage rate. The variability in parents’ responses is what got my mind wanting to know more on the subject.
What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? The most unexpected aspects of this project have been how difficult it is to get permission to conduct qualitative observational research in a medical setting and how effortlessly the subject and focus of your project can change based off the data that is produced.
What has been the most rewarding part? When the parents, siblings, and health practitioners of the children with special needs get a chance to express their thoughts about the subject it is beautiful to watch. It is something that is a huge part of their lives and is also something that they are passionate about, yet they rarely can talk freely about how they feel on the subject.
How will you disseminate your research? I will conduct a PowerPoint presentation at URCAD and plan to publish my paper as a short ethnography.
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? Do not be afraid to put in extra work when it comes to your project. It will be a reflection of you and will be a time where you can explore your academic interests in depth.
What are your career goals? After graduating from UMBC, I plan to attain my Ph.D. in Genetics. I would like to either become a professor or work in the biological science research industry.
Check out other URA Scholars and their research projects:
Please join us for Dr. Dena Smith's reading and book signing on Monday, October 14th at 4 p.m. in the AOK Library Gallery at UMBC.
Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase.
See flier for more details!
Fred L. Pincus, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, will read from his forthcoming memoir, Confessions of a Radical Sociologist, on Thursday November 21 at 4pm in the AOK Library Gallery on UMBC's campus.
Professor Pincus came to UMBC as an instructor in the turbulent year of 1968 and was involved in the movements to end the Vietnam War and to oppose racism on and off campus.
He helped build the Sociology and Anthropology Department in the 1970s and was also a founding faculty member of the Language, Literacy and Culture PhD Program.
Christine Mallinson, Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture and Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, will serve as emcee.
Sponsored by the Center for Social Science Scholarship, the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Health Administration and Policy, and the Language, Literacy & Culture Program.
Light refreshments will be provided.