Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft Instructor: Dr.

Lauren Lastrapes
ANTH 4440, Section 001 Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3 5
Fall 2014 Office: MH 329
Tuesdays, 4:00 6:45 Phone: (202) 321-9014
Email: lelastra@uno.edu


Course Description:

Religion is variously defined. The term can be understood differently depending on our individual
circumstances. Because of this, the title of this course offers more description: Religion, Magic, and
Witchcraft. All of these things, we will learn, happen inside of churches, temples or mosquesthe
sites of organized, normative religion. But religion, magic, and witchcraft also happen everywhere
and can be understood as a part of everyday human experience. This semester, well look at religion
in many forms from a cross-cultural, comparative, perspective.

Course Goals:

1. To acquaint students with the study of religion from an anthropological perspective.
2. To introduce important theoretical issues and topics presented by the study of religious
phenomena from an anthropological (ethnographic) perspective.
3. To discuss controversial issues raised by religious customs and practices, to argue and debate
using evidence, analysis, and insight the relative merit of the views we favor or disavow.
4. To learn to think in anthropological terms about the issues raised in the course, and also
about all manner of issues that affect our lives.

Course Format:

This is a discussion course. It is not a lecture course. It is important that we spend our time
together in class talking about what weve read and what were interpreting in the texts. I expect
everyone to do the reading, and I expect everyone to participate in the discussion. Participation can
be active listening, but more commonly, participation means offering your thoughts and reflections
on specific assigned readings and prior discussions. Because I value active participation, I dont
value the presence of your phone or your laptop. Put them away. Or better, dont take them out at
all.

I wont spend time summarizing the reading, so come to class ready to ask questions, make
comments, and share interpretations of our assignments. There are neither right answers, nor
correct interpretations, and because of the potentially controversial nature of the class material, we
may not agree with one another. Debate will be a key element of our process for thinking through
the issues raised by our readings. Interpretations will vary, and everyone must be respectful of the
views of others. Students will be evaluated based on what they know, what they share, and what
they contribute to the class. No one will be evaluated on the basis of their beliefs.





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Course Requirements and Grading:

1. Class participation and attendance 20%

Students may miss one class with no repercussions. Each class missed after the first will
cause a significant reduction in your final grade.

2. Reaction papers 50%

You will write five two-page papers about the assigned readings throughout the course. I
will give you questions to which you will respond in your papers on the Wednesday before
the paper is due. The goal of these papers is for you to write critically and concisely about
the major themes in the readings and about the themes that arise in class discussion. And of
course, you must answer the question. You must also cite your sources where appropriate.
See the section below entitled How to Avoid Plagiarism for more information on that.

These papers are not diary entries. Any reaction papers that do not reflect a critical
understanding of the assigned reading will be graded as such. That is, you wont do well if
you spend two pages telling me all about your own life and nothing about what you read.
You can use your personal experience and express your thoughts in these essays to the
extent that you use this experience and these thoughts to interpret the assigned readings.
Emailed papers are not acceptable.

3. Final paper 30%

The final paper will be your masterpiece. Well talk more about what is required as the
semester progresses, but as of this writing, you have two options. The details of these
options will be explained in a separate document.

3a. You can produce a book commentary that compares City of Women and Mama Lola.

3b. You can use the readings weve done this semester to interpret your participation in a
religious ceremony that is new to you.



Required Texts:

Brown, Karen McCarthy. 2001. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkeley: University of
California Press.

Harris, Marvin. 1989 [1974]. Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. New York: Vintage Books.

Harner, Michael. 1990. The Way of the Shaman. New York: Harper One.

Landes, Ruth. 1994 [1947]. The City of Women. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

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Moro Pamela A., James E. Myers, and Arthur C. Lehmann. 2010. Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An
Anthropological Study of the Supernatural. New York: McGraw Hill

Patchett, Ann. 2011. State of Wonder. New York: Harper Collins.


How to Avoid Plagiarism:

Where citations are required, you should use the parenthetical form. In order to avoid plagiarism,
you must cite an author whenever you heavily paraphrase or directly quote them. So, if I was
quoting Bob Smith, whose book came out in 1941 and who wrote what I quoted on page 23, I
would do this:

The idea that the earth was flat was first contradicted by Aristotle, though, some people believe it
was Warren Zevon (Smith 1941:23).

The same thing should happen even if you just paraphrase Bob Smith without directly quoting him.
Open parenthesis, authors last name, year of publication, colon, page number, close parenthesis.

If you use the authors name in the sentence, you do not need to repeat it in the parenthetical
citation. For example:

According to Bob Smith, the idea that the earth was flat was first contradicted by Aristotle, though
there are people who credit Warren Zevon with the honor (1941:23).

Do your best with citations. It is not difficult to do, but it is difficult to form a good habit of using
citations properly. One of the goals of this course is to give you an opportunity to develop this
good habit.


Reading Schedule and Deadlines:

Week One August 26
Introductions!

In-class reading: Non-Overlapping Magisteria (Gould) [handout]

In-class writing:
1) What are your expectations for the course?
2) Interpret the reading and the discussion of it today.

Week Two September 2
Anthropological Approaches to Religion, especially Cultural Materialism
Moro et al: Religion (Geertz)
Why We Became Religious (Harris)
Religious Perspectives in Anthroplogy (Lee)

Harris: Preface and Prologue
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Mother Cow
Pig Lovers and Pig Haters

Week Three September 9
Moro et al: Anthropologists Versus Missionaries (Stipe)

Harris: Broomsticks and Sabbats
The Great Witch Craze
The Return of the Witch

Week Four September 16
**Reaction Paper #1 Due.

Myth, Symbolism, and Taboo
Moro et al: The Study of Mythology (Leonard and McClure)
Harelips and Twins: the Splitting of a Myth (Levi-Strauss)
The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol (Wolf)
Taboo (Douglas)
Shamans, Priests, and Prophets
Moro et al: Religious Specialists (Turner)
Dark Side of the Shaman (Brown)
Reflections After Waco (Barkun)

Week Five September 23
Harner, The Way of the Shaman, whole book

Week Six September 30
Altered States of Consciousness and the Religious Use of Drugs
Moro et al: Hypnosis and Trance Induction in the Surgeries of Brazilian Spiritist Healer Mediums
(Greenfield)
On the Peyote Road (Kiyaani and Csordas)
Ritual Enemas (Furst and Coe)
The Sound of Rushing Water (Harner)
Ritual
Moro et al: Betwixt and Between: the Liminal Period in Rites of Passage (Turner)
I Bow My Head to the Ground: Creating Bodily Experience Through Initiation
(Mason)
Return to Wirikuta (Myerhoff)
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema (Miner)

Week Seven October 7
**Reaction Paper #2 Due.

Witchcraft, Sorcery, Divination and Magic
Moro et al: An Anthropological Perspective on the Witchcraze (Brain)
Consulting the Poison Oracle Among the Azande (Evans-Pritchard)
Rational Mastery by Man of His Surroundings (Malinowski)
Baseball Magic (Gmelch)
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Week Eight October 14
Ethnomedicine: Religion and Healing
Moro et al: Eyes of the Ngangas (Lehmann)
Swallowing Frogs: Anger and Illness in Northeast Brazil (Rebhun)
Mothering and the Practice of Balm in Jamaica (Wedenoja)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Fadiman)
Patchett, start reading State of Wonder

Week Nine October 21
Patchett, finish State of Wonder

Week Ten October 28
**Reaction Paper #3 Due.

Ghosts and Souls and Ancestors, Oh My.
Moro et al: Vodou (Brown)
The Cremated Catholic: The Ends of a Deceased Guatemalan (Brandes)
Brown, start reading Mama Lola

Week Eleven November 4
Brown, finish Mama Lola

Week Twelve November 11
**Reaction Paper #4 Due.

Landes, start City of Women

Week Thirteen November 18
Landes, finish City of Women

Week Fourteen November 25
Religion as Global Culture
Moro et al: The Veil in their Minds (Hoodfar)
Ritual and the Performance of Buddhist Identity (Van Esterik)
Religious Terror and Global War (Juergensmeyer)
Homer the Heretic and Charlie Church (Dalton et al)

Week Fifteen December 2
**Reaction Paper #5 Due.

Searching for Salvation
Harris: Messiahs
The Secret Prince of Peace
Moro et al: The Ghost Dance Religion (Kehoe)
Cargo Cults (Worsley)
Urban Rastas in Kingston, Jamaica (Lewis)
(back to Chapter 2) Serpent-Handling as Sacrament (Daugherty)
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Week Sixteen December 9 (Final Exam Week)
Final Paper Due



Statements of Relative Import:


Moodle
In this course, I may post supplemental readings or videos on our page, and I will use Moodle to
send emails to your UNO accounts. Please let me know if you have any issues with this service.
Email Communications
You will need to use your UNO email account to receive communications for this class. Remember
to keep it clean enough so as not block any incoming messages. I will occasionally communicate
with you via email especially if there are changes in the class schedule or to share things I think you
might find interesting.
Feel free to email me: lelastra@uno.edu
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is fundamental to the process of learning and evaluating academic performance.
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the
following: cheating, plagiarism, tampering with academic records and examinations, falsifying
identity, and being an accessory to acts of academic dishonesty. Refer to the UNO Judicial Code for
further information. The Code is available online at:
http://www.uno.edu/student-affairs-enrollment-management/documents/Student-Code-of-
Conduct-May-2014.pdf
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Students who qualify for services will receive the academic modifications for which they are legally
entitled. It is the responsibility of the student to register with the Office of Disability Services each
semester and follow their procedures for obtaining assistance.