Chabot College

Course Outline for Anthropology 12, Page 2

Fall 2010

Chabot CollegeFall 2010

Course Outline for Anthropology 12

MAGIC, RELIGION, WITCHCRAFT AND HEALING

Catalog Description:

12 - Magic, Religion, Witchcraft and Healing3 units

Cross-cultural perspectives on spirituality, religious practice, myth, ancestor beliefs, witchcraft and the variety of religious rituals and practitioners found in the cultures of the world. Examination of the cosmologies of different cultures through the anthropological perspective. Emphasis is placed on how knowledge of the religious practices and beliefs of others can help us to understand the multicultural world in which we live. Comparison of the ways in which diverse cultures confront the large and fundamental questions of existence: those dealing with the meaning of life, birth and death, and with the relationship of humans to each other and to their universe. 3 hours.

[Typical contact hours: 52.5]

Prerequisite Skills:

None

Expected Outcomes for Students:

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

  1. describe the methodology of cultural anthropology inquiry;
  2. identify the variety of religious beliefs and practices on a world scale as well as within our own pluralistic society;
  3. discuss the complex relationship between religious cosmology and other important cultural practices and institutions in a society.

Course Content:

  1. Brief historical overview of the development of the field, its scope, aims, methods, and relationship with other disciplines of scientific inquiry
  2. Nature of belief systems cross-culturally
  3. Universal patterns of spiritual belief and variations in religious perspective
  4. The study of myth and ritual on a world scale
  5. Religion and healing in small-scale societies
  6. Beliefs in ghosts, powerful ancestors, the spirits of the dead
  7. Witchcraft and sorcery beliefs; their cultural, economic and political functions
  8. Religious revitalization movements, old and new
  9. Varieties of religious practitioners, from shaman to priests
  10. The arts and religion
  11. Problems of evil, the ethical dimensions of religious belief and practice
  12. The human search for transcendence through ritual, spiritual journey, prayer and trance

Methods of Presentation:

  1. Lecture, discussion, collaborative learning
  2. Multi-media materials, oral presentations
  3. Instructor conferences

Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:

  1. Typical Assignments
  2. Observe, record, and analyze ethnographic material.

1)Contrast cross-culturally various medical philosophies of the causes and cures of disease, disorders, and distress. Examine your own cultural assumptions about health and illness.

  1. Examine your own spiritual and natural worldviews within a cultural and historical context.
  2. Understandanthropological spiritual diversity in the world's cultures as well as the subfield of medical anthropology.

1)Employ anthropological criteria utilized in classifying beliefs and practices as magical, religious, shamanic, or scientific.

2)Examine your own belief systems and begin to identify the historical influences that have shaped them.

  1. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  2. Essays and other assigned writings
  3. Oral presentations
  4. Quizzes and examinations
  5. Ethnographic observation/interview project
  6. Final Examination

Textbook(s) (Typical):

Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, Moro, Lehmann and Myers, 2006

Special Student Materials:

None.

ANTH 12, revised 9/09: cs