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Folk Beliefs and Witchcraft Persecution in the Early Modern and Modern
Atlantic World - MET HI 380
Prof. Timothy Walker
Boston University - Spring, 1999
This course will broadly survey the place and historical development
of magic and witchcraft in Western culture from the Middle Ages to the present,
as well as influences coming to the West from Africa and South America. The
class will explore the various elements and definitions of magic and witchcraft
in the European, African and American past, and the interrelationship between
different cultural magic traditions. Students ,will explore the historical
circumstances which led to periods of persecution of individuals for alleged
magical activity, comparing those circumstances in various cultures. Also,
we will look at the magical traditions of Europe, Africa and the Caribbean
to see how these traditions have influenced modern-day practitioners of magic
in Britain and America.
Required texts for this course, available at the B.U. Bookstore Mall,
are as follows:
1. Jeffrey B. Russell. A History of Witchcraft. New York: Thames and
Hudson, Ltd., 1980.
2. Brian Levack. The Witch Hunt In Early Modem Europe, 2nd ed. London:
Longman Press, 1995.
3. Carlo Ginzburg. The Night Battles. New York: Penguin Books, 1985.
4. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed, Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard
University Press, 1974.
5. Wade Davis. The Serpent and the Rainbow. New York: Warner Books,
1985.
6. Max Marwick, ed. Witchcraft and Sorcery. New York: Penguin, 1990.
* Note: You will also receive photocopied handouts periooically in class.
Suggested readings include:
1. Margot Adler. Drawing Down the Moon.
2. Nachman Ben-Yehuda. Deviance and Moral Boundaries. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1985.
3, Keith Thomas. Religion and the Decline of Magic.
* Note: The Boston University Mugar Library's holdings on this subject are
extensive; don't hesitate to browse and explore titles on your own.
Course requirements. Your final grade will be based on three marks, weighted
as follows:
Midterm Exam: 30%
Term Paper: 30%
Final Exam: 40%
Term papers should be between ten and twelve pages, typed double-spaced. A
one-paragraph description of your topic and sources, to be approved by the
instructor, will be due in class before the midterm exam. Term papers will
be due in class on Thursday, 22 April 1998. Be prepared when you hand in your
paper to briefly describe -- in about three minutes -- your research project
and findings to the class. In addition, your instructor considers personal
participation in and attendance to each class as essential to the education
process. These will be taken into consideration when calculating final grades.
Lecture Schedule and Reading Assignments
January 15: General introduction. Organization of course; expectations; description
of readings; problems with and the importance of the study of magic, sorcery
and witchcraft.
Russell, Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.
January 22: Cross-culural perspective; discussion of the place of magic in
various societies;
background up to the Middle Ages. Levack, Introduction and Chapters 1,
2 and 3; Ben-- Yehuda excerpt (handout).
January 29: Continental Witchcraft I: Southern Europe -- Italy. Portugal.
Spain and the Inquisition.
Russell, Chapter 3. Ginzburg, class discussion of entire text.
February. 5: Continental Witchcraft II: Northern Europe -- France.
Germany and the Reformation;
"The Witch Craze." Levack, Chapter 4 and Russell, Chapter 4 .
February 12: Witchcraft in the British Isles: England. Scotland and Ireland.
Russell. pp. 90-102. Keith Thomas excerpt (handout).
February 19: Film: "Three Sovereigns for Sarah." Review for Midterm.
February 26: Reading Period. No Class.
March 5: Midterm Exam. Hand in term paper proposals.
March 19: Witchcraft Persecutions in Colonial America. Russell. pp. 103-121.
Boyer and
Nissenbaum, class discussion of entire text.
March 26: The Efficacy of Magic in Sub-Saharan Africa. Marwick, pp. 23-40;
108-139; 381-400.
April 2: Syncretic Magic Traditions in the Caribbean and South America: Voudon,
Candomble and Santoria. Davis, class discussion of entire text; photocopied
handouts.
April 9: Native Americans: The Place of Magic in Pre-Columbian North America;
Changes Following
the Discoveries. Class discussion of photocopied handouts.
April 16: The Pagan Revival: Modern Witchcraft in the United Kingdom, California
and Massachusetts.
Russell, Part II and Ben- Yehuda excerpt (handout).
April 23: Term papers due. Presentation of each student's research and findings.
Review for the Final Exam.
April 30: Final Exam.
© 2002 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Created November 2002.