UCHUMHIS247.5 ECTSEnglishBachelor
Wicked - The Untold History of Magical Scholarship
Faculteit—
NiveauBachelor
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
After completing the course students are able to:
- Students can put the prominence of Renaissance magic, as well as other sciences most educated people no longer believe in, in intellectual and cultural historical context.
- Students can read and interpret historical sources, ranging from Ficino’s On Life to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, that discuss obscure subjects such as alchemy, magic, and witchcraft.
- Students can disentangle the meanings of ‘magic’, as it was used in different historical periods, by different people from the same period, and by later historians.
- Students can critically reflect on the seemingly self-evident categories we use to make sense of our lives and the world we live in.
Relationship between tests and course goals:
All assessment methods assess all of the learning goals. The emphasis differs, however.
Participation: mostly goals 2 and 4.
Oral presentations: mostly goals 1 and 3.
Essay: mostly goals 1 and 2.
Midterm exam: mostly goals 1 and 3.
Content
Title change in spring 2024; content remains the same
‘Magic’ is a key element of today’s popular culture, despite its history of repression and marginalization. The cultural history of magical scholarship is one that takes place in the margins, questioning and questioned by orthodox systems of belief and knowledge. By placing magic central to our story, we move as it were into a different paradigm. We encounter a different worldview than that of, say, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, and Adam Smith – those Enlightened minds after whom buildings, institutions, and prizes are named. Some of the figures that feature in our story – monks, magi, and witches – lived hidden lives and rest in unvisited tombs. Because of the unfamiliarity of these people and their way of thinking, this course deals with material that is challenging to comprehend: the historical sources are obscure and recondite. Yet the effort of close reading is rewarded, for it shows us different ways of being in the world.
‘Magic’ is a key element of today’s popular culture, despite its history of repression and marginalization. The cultural history of magical scholarship is one that takes place in the margins, questioning and questioned by orthodox systems of belief and knowledge. By placing magic central to our story, we move as it were into a different paradigm. We encounter a different worldview than that of, say, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, and Adam Smith – those Enlightened minds after whom buildings, institutions, and prizes are named. Some of the figures that feature in our story – monks, magi, and witches – lived hidden lives and rest in unvisited tombs. Because of the unfamiliarity of these people and their way of thinking, this course deals with material that is challenging to comprehend: the historical sources are obscure and recondite. Yet the effort of close reading is rewarded, for it shows us different ways of being in the world.
Format
The course runs for fifteen weeks; there are two two-hour sessions per week. The instructor will give an introductory lecture highlighting central themes in the first session of the week. The second session in the week is for oral presentations and discussion of the source text. For each session the students are required to do the required reading and prepare the guiding questions (available on blackboard). Halfway the course there is an in-class, mid-term exam which will test the general knowledge of the student. The second half of the course focusses increasingly on individual research for the final essay. Students will be guided during the process, with both written feedback on essay proposals and drafts and individual consultation sessions. The course is rounded off with a round-table discussion linking the history of magic to magic in contemporary culture.
The course runs for fifteen weeks; there are two two-hour sessions per week. The instructor will give an introductory lecture highlighting central themes in the first session of the week. The second session in the week is for oral presentations and discussion of the source text. For each session the students are required to do the required reading and prepare the guiding questions (available on blackboard). Halfway the course there is an in-class, mid-term exam which will test the general knowledge of the student. The second half of the course focusses increasingly on individual research for the final essay. Students will be guided during the process, with both written feedback on essay proposals and drafts and individual consultation sessions. The course is rounded off with a round-table discussion linking the history of magic to magic in contemporary culture.
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