- WEEK ONE -- INTRODUCTION
ARE WITCHES REAL?
- Watch: Welcome to Witch City with Michelle Tea
- Watch: The Most Powerful Witches in Romania
- READ “Why Witchcraft Is on the Rise” in The Atlantic Magazine
- READ "Brujeria Explained by Actual Brujas" in Teen Vogue
- READ Avery Edison, “Before I Was a Woman, I Was a Witch,” in Becoming Dangerous. (included here with permission)
- READ “The Women of Ghana’s Witch Camps” in VICE
SECTION ONE: THE WORK OF WITCHES
WEEK TWO
WITCHCRAFT: HEALING RACIST AND COLONIAL TRAUMA
- Luisah Teish, “Preface,” and Starhawk, “Introduction” to Jambalaya (New Orleans, Vodou, Yoruba tradition)
- M. Jaqui Alexander, Pedagogies of Crossing, p. 287-295 (Afro-Caribbean, Yoruba)
- Elizabeth de la Portilla, “Curanderismo as a Template for a Mexican American Worldview,” in They All Want Magic (Mexico/U.S., Curanderisimx)
WEEK THREE
WITCHCRAFT: MEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE
- Elizabeth de la Portilla, “Healers and Their Clients,” in They All Want Magic (Mexico/U.S., Curanderisimx)
- Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, “Witchcraft and Medicine in the Middle Ages” in Witches, Midwives, and Nurses (Europe, pagan)
- Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, “Women and the Rise of the American Medical Profession,” in Witches, Midwives, and Nurses (Europe, pagan)
- Erika Buenaflor, “An Introduction to Limpias and Curanderismo” in Cleansing Rites of Curanderismo (Mexico/U.S., curanderisimx)
WEEK FOUR
WITCHCRAFT: BEING RIGHT WITH NATURE
- Luisah Teish, “Nature Worship,” in Jambalaya (New Orleans, Vodou, Yoruba tradition)
- Elizabeth de la Portilla, “La Planta es la Vida,” in They All Want Magic (U.S./Mexico)
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, “In the Footsteps of Nanabozho” in Braiding Sweetgrass (Anishinaabe)
- Starhawk, “The Sacred: Earth-Centered Values,” in The Earth Path (Wicca/Judaism/Pagan/Europe)
WEEK FIVE
WITCHCRAFT: HONORING THE ANCESTORS
- Luisah Teish, “Ancestor Reverence,” Jambalaya (New Orleans, Vodou, Yoruba tradition)
- Luisah Teish, “Shrine of the Mother,” Jambalaya (New Orleans, Vodou, Yoruba tradition)
- Barbara Tedlock, “Old Wisdom,” Woman in the Shaman’s Body (Ojibwe)
- Barbara Tedlock, “Healing and the Seekers of Knowledge,” Woman in the Shaman’s Body
WEEK SIX
WITCHCRAFT: DREAMS, POSSESSION, AND MULTIPLICITY
- Barbara Tedlock, “Summoning Whales, Serpents, and Bears: Women Shamans in History,” Woman in the Shaman’s Body (Central America, North Asia)
- Gloria Wekker, “One Finger Does Not Drink Okra Soup,” in Feminist Genealogies (Afro-Suriname, Winti)
- Tamara Ho, “Transgender, Transgression, and Translation,” in Discourse (Burma, Nat Kadaws)
- Barbara Tedlock, “The Disappearing Act: How Female Shamanism Was Eclipsed,” Woman in the Shaman’s Body
SECTION TWO: THE PATRIARCHY STRIKES BACK
WEEK SEVEN
Land Enclosure, Gendered Labor, and the Rise of Capitalism
- LISTEN to Silvia Federici's talk!
- Silvia Federici “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women: Constructing ‘Difference’ in the ‘Transition to Capitalism,” in Caliban and the Witch
- Soma Chaudhuri, “The Politics of Witchcraft Accusations and Witch Hunts: An Introduction.” from Tempest in Teapot: Witches, Tea, Plantations, and Live of Migrant Laborers in India, 2013. (India)
WEEK EIGHT
“The Embodiment of Evil”: Women’s Bonds, Women’s Sexuality
- Silvia Federici, “On Gossip” in Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women
- Kristen Sollee, “Witches, Sluts and Feminism” and “Witch Slut Are You?” in Witches, Sluts, and Feminism
- Soma Chauduri, “Women, Moral Boundaries, and Gossip,” from Tempest in Teapot: Witches, Tea, Plantations, and Live of Migrant Laborers in India, 2013. (India)
- Isak Niehaus “Perversion of Power: Witchcraft and the Sexuality of Evil in the South African Lowveld” Journal of Religion in Africa , Aug., 2002, Vol. 32, pp. 269-299
WEEK NINE
The Witch Hunts: Patriarchal and Colonial Hysteria
- Watch: I Am Not a Witch (2017, Zambia) https://www.kanopy.com/product/i-am-not-witch
- Stacy Schiff, “That Old Deluder,” in The Witches (Salem, New England colonies)
- Silvia Federici ”Witch Hunting, Globalization, and Feminist Solidarity in Africa Today” in Witches, Witch-hunting, and Women (Ghana, Zambia)
- “India’s Witches Victims of Superstition and Poverty” https://www.dw.com/en/indias-witches-victims-of-superstition-and-poverty/a-49757742
SECTION THREE: PRACTICING WITCHCRAFT NOW
WEEK TEN:
Developing Your Own Practice
- Maya Spalter, Chapters 1, 6, and 8 from Enchantments.
- Sarah Lyons, “Spellbook for the Apocalypse” in Revolutionary Witchcraft.
- Bani Amor, “The Heart of Whiteness: On Spiritual Tourism and the Colonization of Ayahuasca” in Bitch(Amazon) https://www.bitchmedia.org/topic/ayahuasca