This workshop focuses on the institutionalisation of magic. Working with premodern sources, participants will present, discuss, and compare different ways in which magic was thematised and performed as an empowerment or power-legitimising strategy. Participants will consider a number of different premodern religious systems and cultures, exploring concepts of identity negotiation and identity transfer in verbal magic knowledge, as well as narratives about magical symbols. The workshop further aims to cast a critical spotlight on the history of modern research relating to these phenomena.
The workshop discussion will focus on sources imparting divinatory and medicinal knowledge that describe legitimising rituals, or were themselves part of such rituals. Participants will also discuss the contexts of the sources, which are from various parts of Europe and Asia, as well as ancient Egypt and other premodern cultural spheres. In Europe, in particular, magic was frequently defined through exclusion. In the early medieval period, church and secular laws regulating the practice of magic, efforts to combat magic, and medical knowledge pertaining to popular concepts of illness all comprised culture- and religion-specific processes for delegitimising and demonising magic. An equivalent segregation cannot be assumed in other cultural spheres. With this in mind, we will use the example of healing systems in Europe to analyse historical perspectives on magic and exorcism, and then draw comparisons with Asian and ancient Egyptian medical traditions and research thereon.