2005 Handbooks

This unit discusses the cultural visibility of cults, magic and representations of the cosmos in contemporary Western and Non-Western societies, with a particular focus on notions of the sacred, self, and the body. The study of the Western New Age cults, nature and spiritually (angels, guides, visionaries, auras, tarot, crystal ball) and other mind body philosophies (energy, success) associated with post-Christianity leads us to examine transitions in ritual experiences in the West. Case studies will be drawn from the media, festivals and IT to illustrate these new cultural trends.The notions of time, space, magic and spirituality as conceptualised in non-Western societies will derive from Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and South East Asia. The Afro-Latin American cults such as Macamba, Santeria and Voodoo, will be explored. Local cults and their pantheon of gods, the priests, the divining shells and their collective play will be visualised through films. Latin American indigenous millenarian movements will also be considered to enable us to draw on comparative approaches to 'cargo cults' in the Pacific. Buddhist traditions and concepts of cosmological cycles, yoga and South-East Asian martial arts will be integrated into our study. In this way the course will outline some theoretical perspectives addressing questions about the human experience in modernity and post-modernity.