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Course description:
Most of us seek to approach the world in a rational, empirical manner. Yet we hunger for transcendent experience. When we encounter people who have attainted experiences that fall outside the rational, we either admire and envy them, or fear them and seek to control them and what they do. This course will examine those people who function outside the rational. To do so, we will study several categories of magic people in a culture different from our own. Specifically, we will look at magic people among the Russians and the Ukrainians. Some of these people, like the blind, did not seek to be special. Nonetheless, society singled them out and attributed transcendent powers to them. Some, especially religious sects, sought to distance themselves from the world. Interestingly, while their goal was spiritual, they often tried to achieve it by physical means. Some, while not marked by stigmata, experienced possession, which manifested itself physically in screaming and fits. They were thought either to be the victims of witches or witches themselves. Attitudes toward all categories of magic people were extreme: they were either considered holy or demonic; there was nothing in between. After looking at magic people in Russia and Ukraine, the course will turn to the United States and look at people and experiences that go beyond the rational. Here, too, issues of the body and the spirit, often seen as an interplay of the physical and the spiritual in healing, are important.
Course goals:
1) To explore rational and transcendent thought. Specifically, I would like us to examine:
a) How magic people saw themselves and how they were seen by others. I want us to examine marked categories and to discuss why they are formulated in opposites and extremes.
b) The relationship between the psyche and the body. Is it our insistence on an empirical approach to the world that demands visual proof of possession or transcendence? Or do certain physical experiences induce certain mental states? Conversely, what is the role of the spiritual in physical health?
2) To learn about a culture that is different from our own. The cultures of Russia and Ukraine, especially in their rural, folk versions, are decidedly non-Western. Exploring these cultures teaches ways of thinking that are different and thus fosters sensitivity to cultural diversity and the ability to approach problems differently and in creative ways.
3) To practice data collection and analysis. Many students get no experience collecting their own data; they rely solely on published sources, the data collected by others. Yet, the ability to gather one's own material is vital. Folklore fieldwork provides an excellent opportunity for data gathering and analysis.
4) To develop the usual skills: critical thinking, oral and written presentation. I also like to foster work in digital humanities.
Course requirements: To get you to do this I will ask you to
1) Do the readings (see below).
2) Attend lecture. Lectures will present data that is not in the readings. There has been a great deal of excellent folklore and ethnographic work done in Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, yet much of it has not been translated into English. For example, there is no major English language work on Russian and Ukrainian witchcraft, yet witchcraft is central to this course. Furthermore, the Slavic approach to witchcraft as a healing technique rather than as malefice is important to cultural pluralism. Thus, I will use lectures to present those materials that are not available elsewhere. Lectures will be supplemented by ethnographic photos and by videos. You will be responsible for the material that is presented in lecture.
3) Participate actively in discussion section. This will be your chance to discuss the readings and the material presented in lecture and to practice your oral skills.
4) Write a set of short response papers based on your readings and on the videos and other materials presented in lecture.
5) Complete a collection project. You will either interview a magic person or explore the mind-body connection through an examination of non-pharmaceutical healing. We will give you suggestions on the people to contact. Your collection project will have a series of steps and we will guide you through them. The steps will be:
a) A questionnaire
b) The interview and the presentation of raw data
c) Follow-ups as necessary
d) A project report
e) A poster based on your project so that your classmates can see your work
6) Take exams based on your work.
Reading list:
1) Natalie Kononenko, Ukrainian Minstrels: And the Blind Shall Sing
2) Laura Engelstein, Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom: A Russian Folktale
I did not find this book particularly gruesome. But, if you do, you may substitute Ewa Thompson, Understanding Russia: The Holy Fool in Russian Culture
3) Christine Worobec, Possessed: Women, Witches, and Demons in Imperial Russia
4) Erika Brady, ed., Healing Logics: Culture and Medicine in Modern Health Belief Systems
Recommended reading: Michael Gruber, Tropic of Night
Grade break-up:
Class participation, contributions to discussions in section - 20 % of grade
Short response papers - 15 %
Collection project - 35%
5-10 pages of discussion and analysis plus an appendix giving the data collected, with full fieldwork documentation. Total paper length will be about 20 pages, depending on the data. Guidelines will be provided
Exams testing the materials presented in lecture and the readings:
Midterm exam - 10 %; exam date, October 9
Final exam - 20 %; exam date, December 10, 9AM
Second Writing Requirement: This course does not automatically satisfy the Second Writing Requirement, but you may use it for that purpose, if you wish. To satisfy the Second Writing Requirement, you must write a research paper of at least 10 pages and submit it once in rough draft form (due October 30) and once in final form (due December 4). This paper will be IN ADDITION to the collection project; it will not be a substitute for the collection project or the short response papers. Rather, the paper will substitute for the final exam and will be worth as much as the final exam, or 20 % of your course grade. I will post a list of suggested topics no later than the beginning of October.
To be eligible for the second writing requirement option, you must have already COMPLETED ENWR 110, or the equivalent.
Course Structure:
Unit one: Minstrels and minstrelsy. We will use the phenomenon of the blind minstrel to
examine Ukrainian and Russian ideas about the body. We will work from minstrelsy to explore ideas about the other, or spirit, world. What is it? Is it the world of the dead? What is the relationship between the world of the dead and the world of the living? Who has access to the world of the dead? Are there other spirit realms and what relationship do ordinary people have to these? In other words, what magic acts can be performed only by minstrels or other magic people and what types of magic are accessible to all?
Unit two: Religious sects. The book you will read in conjunction with this unit presents
the skoptsy, perhaps the most extreme of the religious sects in late imperial and early modern Russia. Skoptsy manipulated their own bodies for personal salvation. As presented in this book, no magical powers were attributed to them, except, perhaps, the ability to accumulate wealth. However, adherents of other sects were believed to have the power to heal and to curse. In addition to sects, there was the institution of the holy fool, or iurodivyi, who was believed to have some powers in common with the minstrel and other powers that might be considered shamanic. You will be seeing several videos in conjunction with this unit.
As part of this unit, we should also look at out-of-body, or ecstatic states. There are various "techniques of ecstasy." Some are practiced as part of religious ritual. Some are used to achieve physical and spiritual health. We will look at language, rhythm, and movement. We will also look at pain. Some cultures use pain to induce ecstatic states. Other cultures use ecstasy as an analgesic, a way to alleviate pain. We need to look at this seemingly contradictory phenomenon.
Unit three: Witchcraft and possession. No one goes around claiming to be a witch, yet
numerous people claimed and claim to be possessed, going to monasteries to be cured. Who were the possessed? What was the attitude toward them and how has this attitude changed over time? And what about the people whom they blamed as the cause of their affliction? What kinds of people tended to be accused of witchcraft? What were witchcraft accusations like? If we look at the accusations from the point of view of narrative theory, what conclusions can we draw? Here, too, you will have videos in addition to your reading and I will give you extensive information on "witches" as healers, midwives, and practitioners of folk medicine.
Unit four: American parallels. You have a collection of essays and we will look at these
and compare and contrast to Russian and Ukrainian material. I have also suggested a novel about magic and how it works and also about becoming a person who practices magic. I think that you will enjoy this novel and we will include it in unit 4.
Unit five: I stop lecturing and you start work on your collection project. The TA and I
will guide you through the project step by step. You will be submitting each step and then meeting with either me or the TA to discuss what you have already done and to plan how you should proceed. The meetings with the TA and me are mandatory and are part of your project grade. We will then meet as a group during the last week of classes to sum up our work and to review. I am planning on devoting at least one lecture period to the presentation of selected projects.
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