{"id":1768,"date":"2021-04-14T15:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/course-explores-magic-witchcraft-and-healing\/"},"modified":"2024-08-26T21:14:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T04:14:44","slug":"course-explores-magic-witchcraft-and-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/course-explores-magic-witchcraft-and-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Course explores \u2018Magic, Witchcraft and Healing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3454-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3454-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Course explores \u2018Magic, Witchcraft and Healing\u2019\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  In the course \u201cMagic, Witchcraft and Healing,\u201d students explore historical and geographical aspects of mystical arts, including Voudo rituals like the one depicted in this Gerard Valcin painting. (Painting: Gerard Valcin\/Haitian Art Society.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=student\">Student<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Course explores \u2018Magic, Witchcraft and Healing\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife\u2019s Thomas Ward of anthropology covers Vodou, witchcraft and shamanism, while focusing on \u201cwhite magic\u201d used for holistic healing. <strong>[5\u00bc&nbsp;min&nbsp;read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Susan Bell<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">April 14, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>Perched on a shelf in Thomas Ward\u2019s home office is a set of Vodou dolls.<\/p>\n<p>Curiously, they\u2019re not in the shape of human beings but are little round balls topped with conical \u201chats.\u201d Filled with dense soil and wrapped tightly with black and red ribbon, they\u2019re as heavy as paperweights.<\/p>\n<p>Ward, associate professor (teaching) of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/anth\/\">anthropology<\/a>\u00a0at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, shows the Vodou artifacts to students in his spring semester course \u201cMagic, Witchcraft and Healing\u201d (ANTH 373).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re beautiful objects,\u201d he says of the Vodou dolls, which he brought back from a trip to Haiti in 1983.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can be used for healing and they can also be used for the dark arts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Ward is no Severus Snape.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur class explores the magical components of healing, and while witchcraft can be used for healing or harm, our class focuses only on \u2018white magic,\u2019 rather than black magic, which is believed to cause harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t stop some of his students expressing curiosity about the dark side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey ask me, \u2018Are curses real?\u2019 \u2018Can a witch put a curse on you?\u2019\u201d Ward says. \u201cFrom the indigenous perspective, absolutely. Most non-Western cultures believe that curses can be used for harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But anthropologists and Western scientists would argue that it\u2019s the power of belief that causes people who know they\u2019ve been cursed to have accidents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt depends on who you are, where you are, what culture you\u2019re in, your own belief system,\u201d Ward says.<\/p>\n<h2>Magic and healing<\/h2>\n<p>Ward\u2019s course explores the cross-cultural aspects of healing in non-Western traditions.<\/p>\n<p>In the anthropological, cross-cultural context, the term \u2018magic\u2019 is used for non-Western methods of healing or other ritual practices. Ward defines magic in the context of this course as unexplained causality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething happens and it causes something else to happen and we see the result, but we don\u2019t know exactly how it works,\u201d he says, noting that the term is used even in quantum physics to explain causal relationships that we don\u2019t completely understand.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Ward_MagicCourse_inStoryA-3454.jpg\" alt=\"Two spheres wrapped in black and red with protrusions on the top wrapped in gold wire.\" width=\"630\" height=\"406\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haitian Voudo dolls are often used for healing, according to anthropologist Thomas Ward. (Photo: Courtesy of Thomas Ward.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>\u201cI put a spell on you\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>What\u2019s fascinating about witchcraft, Ward says, is just how complex and pervasive the idea is, cross-culturally, from Asia to the Americas and Africa. Why have humans for so many thousands of years and from so many different cultures and locations held these beliefs? Is it possible that there\u2019s something more to it that we\u2019re not seeing?<\/p>\n<p>The course explores a number of different historical and geographical aspects of witchcraft: the Salem Witch Trials in New England; the Azande, an ethnic group in Southern Sudan; Vodou tradition and practices in Haiti and Brooklyn, New York;\u00a0<i>curanderismo<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 traditional healing of the body, mind or soul by shamans or spiritual healers \u2014 in the Southwest United States; and the genesis of the Wiccan religion in the United Kingdom and its spread to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Students read E.E. Evans-Pritchard\u2019s ethnography\u00a0<i>Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande<\/i>, which explores how witchcraft is used to explain causality. Evans-Pritchard was one of the first anthropologists to point out the logic of witchcraft beliefs and to argue that witchcraft explains unfortunate circumstance in situations that Western science would simply put down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if you are sitting on a verandah and one of the columns breaks and the roof falls and hits you on the head, Western scientists might tell you that termites were eating the wood, causing the column to fall. The questions that Western science doesn\u2019t answer is why at that particular moment in time did the roof fall and \u201cwhy me\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWestern science would just chalk it up to unfortunate circumstance,\u201d Ward says. With its mystical aspect, witchcraft fills that gap, providing the causal link and explaining why it happened at that particular place and time and to that particular individual.<\/p>\n<p>Ward says one of the most fascinating aspects of non-Western healing practices is its focus on the holistic aspect. These ideas are starting to gain traction in the U.S. with more emphasis on social relationships, community and spirituality.<\/p>\n<p>In Vodou, for instance, practitioners look not only at physical and mental health, but also spiritual health and a person\u2019s relationship to the \u2018lwa,\u2019 or spirits. The role of Vodou practitioners, known as \u201cservants of the spirits,\u201d is to communicate with the lwa, make them offerings and ask for intercession.<\/p>\n<p>Ward\u2019s course also explores the Wiccan religion, founded by Gerald Gardner in 1929. Gardner did a popular BBC interview that stirred up a great deal of controversy and interest in modern witchcraft.<\/p>\n<p>The Wiccan movement spread from the U.K. to the U.S., where it experienced its greatest growth in the 1960s and \u201970s, with the civil rights and women\u2019s movements and a greater willingness to experiment and explore non-Western or ancient ways of being and healing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWicca\u2019s emphasis on nature and the sacred feminine made it, in some ways, the response to, and maybe rebellion against, the patriarchal elements of Christianity,\u201d Ward says.<\/p>\n<h2>The three big takeaways<\/h2>\n<p>The focus of the course, he says, is on expanding our horizons while remaining respectful and humble about other people\u2019s traditions. Ward wants students to think about what healing means from a holistic perspective.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tend to think of healing in the West as mainly physical, emotional and psychological, whereas in the non-Western context, healing means to restore a balance or a sense of wholeness in an individual and his or her environment, including family, friends, nature, spirits and ancestors. So, healing is much more comprehensive \u2014 it restores a person\u2019s health, happiness and wholeness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ward hopes students will take away from the course a greater sense of open-mindedness and curiosity, but also humility. \u201cMagic is the word that we use to keep us humble, by saying that things are happening that we don\u2019t fully understand. We need to respect other people\u2019s views of causality and the etiology of illness and broaden our perspective about what is possibly causing various illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ward says the course also peels back the layers of contemporary celebrations like Halloween that depict witches in a stereotypical and sometimes humorous way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a huge, very complicated worldwide history of what witches are and what they do,\u201d Ward says. \u201cThere should be respect for these traditions, but also understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/why-were-still-fascinated-with-witches\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Why we\u2019re still fascinated with witches<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/anthropology-professor-gangster-guru-shatters-stereotypes\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Would be \u2018gangster guru\u2019 explores the roots of gang culture<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/deborah-harkness-interview-on-supernatural-science-history\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Deborah Harkness on the supernatural, science and history<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USC Dornsife\u2019s Thomas Ward of anthropology covers Vodou, witchcraft and shamanism, while focusing on \u201cwhite magic\u201d used for holistic healing. <strong>[5\u00bc&nbsp;min&nbsp;read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[129,143,464],"class_list":["post-1768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student","tag-anthropology","tag-faculty","tag-thomas-ward"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Course explores \u2018Magic, Witchcraft and Healing\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC Dornsife\u2019s Thomas Ward of anthropology covers Vodou, witchcraft and shamanism, while focusing on \u201cwhite magic\u201d used for holistic healing. 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