Jacob Olupona, professor at Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions, will deliver the keynote lecture of the Center's Magic and Mysticism conference which occurs on February 28 and March 1, 2013. All conference panel sessions will take place in the University Museum in University Hall. Professor Olupona's lecture, free and open to all, is scheduled to take place in Thompson Library, Room 165. A reception will follow.
Abstract:
This lecture will explore the debates about magic and religion that have taken place in Western academic discourse as it relates to African indigenous religious traditions. We will look at how this concept has developed within the disciplines of the history of religion, anthropology of religion and comparative religion. We will explore how concepts such as magic and mysticism are understood within these African religious traditions in hopes of identifying new discursive avenues for conceiving of these indigenous religious traditions. I will draw upon my own field research, anthropological discourses and sources from the history of religion to demonstrate the intrinsic nature of “magic” within African religious practice. Should we consider divination magic? Is mysticism the same in these religious traditions as it is in say Islam? Together we will consider notions of power, materiality and ritual that have been pervasive in the misrepresentation of African religious practice in Western academic and socio-religious imagination. More recent concepts such as the “occult economy” and its relationship to processes of globalization will be critically examined. Do these concepts and frameworks aid us in understanding African society and religion or do they cloud and obfuscate the lived realities of contemporary Africans? These questions and more will be explored in an attempt to re-imagine indigenous religious discourses.
A copy of the 2013 Magic and Mysticism Schedule is available upon request. Please email religion@osu.edu to request a copy.