Societas Magica Conference Sessions

Posted by Emily Selove

MAGIC UN/DISCIPLINED
International Conference, Societas Magica
University of South Carolina, September 2-4, 2022
Hybrid format

Showcasing recent cross-cultural and interdisciplinary advances in the history and anthropology of “magic,” this international conference will provide a forum for wide-ranging conversations on this often embattled but perennially vital category and its myriad deployments over time, space and genre. What is it, how does it work, how does it look, how does it feel, what does it mean, and to whom?

“Magic Un/disciplined” pays special attention to communities and generic forms that are typically underrepresented in scholarship, with emphasis on new alternatives to still-endemic colonialist approaches underlying both the study of particular traditions and of the history of religion, magic and science as distinct disciplines. Its format reflects these commitments: in lieu of a keynote, the conference will open with a roundtable discussion on the state of the discipline(s), past and present; it will close with one on the future of the study of magic.

More generally, roundtables and panels will highlight the work of emerging and under-represented scholars in the field, very broadly construed, considering where we have been and imagining where we ought to go from here. To foster such constructive conversations, there will be no parallel sessions, and the program will be as culturally, historically, and disciplinarily inclusive as possible. All participants, in short, are invited to meditate on the current shape of magic studies—then imagine, or re-imagine, its futures.

For more information on topics and logistics, please see the Societas Magica Newsletter available in the “Newsletters” tab.

Please send abstracts or proposals for full sessions simultaneously to Matt Melvin-Koushki at mmelvink@sc.edu and Marla Segol at marla.segol@gmail.com by July 15, 2022.