The Owl, the Dragon and the Magician: Reflections on Being an Anthropologist Studying Magic

This article documents the life of an anthropologist studying magic; it chronicles her trajectory of finding a place between the rationalized, analytically based academy on the one hand, and a life infused with spirits on the other. Not wanting to prioritize either critical thinking or the reality o...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Greenwood, Susan (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Equinox Publ. [2015]
Dans: The pomegranate
Année: 2015, Volume: 17, Numéro: 1/2, Pages: 141-154
Sujets non-standardisés:B Shamanism
B Animism
B Magic
B Paganism
B Altered states of consciousness
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Résumé:This article documents the life of an anthropologist studying magic; it chronicles her trajectory of finding a place between the rationalized, analytically based academy on the one hand, and a life infused with spirits on the other. Not wanting to prioritize either critical thinking or the reality of a non-material world, Susan Greenwood shows how she has explored a magical terrain engaging sensory experiences, the imagination as a 'doorway' into an inspirited reality, and critical thinking through her anthropological work. Greenwood shows how she has negotiated often uncomfortable - but highly relevant - subjective and theoretical domains with the aim of not reducing or privileging one to the other. In the process she has sought to legitimize magic as an important aspect of knowledge that can bring academic - as well as individual - insights.
ISSN:1743-1735
Contient:Enthalten in: The pomegranate
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/pome.v17i1-2.27936