On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:54 PM, Segal, Professor Robert A.
My reply: the burden is on you, who can't even address persons by name, to tell us what theories, and theories that have been tested, are missing. Representativeness should be of ideas, not of races or cultures.
RS
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From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of N.W. Azal [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:51 PM
Start with the fact that there is not a single non-Anglo-European voice represented in the entire volume, not one -- and kindly put down your personal ethnocentric axe against me down. You have already demonstrated once before where you stand on assorted questions.
On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Segal, Professor Robert A. <
[log in to unmask]<mailto:
[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Jan. 16
Dear All,
As someone who happily offered an endorsement for this superb anthology, which I have read with care, I stand by my praise for it. Perhaps N. W. would like to tell us exactly what theories that have been accepted by scholars are overlooked. I can imagine how carefully the book, just out, has been scrutinized.
I recall being informed by the same "contributor" that my own work was, if I recall, worthless and mediocre.
I think that Nick is being excessively polite and that the hatred and ignorance repeatedly displayed on this list by N. W. Azal be curbed.
If the response to this posting is another rant, I will quit this list.
Robert Segal
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Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:25 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Defining magic
Hi
N.W.Azal, while you do your case no favours in indulging in abuse of western scholars – it is not Otto and Stausberg’s fault that they operate in a particular lineage - I thank you for posting this link. As a child of western scholarship myself, I despair at the parochialism which afflicts much – bit not all – of it. Personally I will look forward to reading Otto and Stausberg’s contribution.
Your link would have spoken volumes, posted by itself, without the need to denigrate others.
I have, by the way, forwarded it to my students at the University of Wales and my Facebook page.
Nick
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of N.W. Azal
Sent: 16 January 2013 12:42
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Defining magic
Yet another Anglo-European academic text perpetuating an exclusively hegemonic Eurocentric narrative about magic. The colonialist is alive and well in the knowledge industries of the Western Ivory Tower.
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]><mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>] On Behalf Of Bernd-Christian Otto [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]><mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>]
Sent: 15 January 2013 12:56
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]><mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Defining magic
Hello everyone!
I would like to announce the publication of a volume which might be of interest to some readers of this list, namely Michael Stausberg’s and my Defining Magic: A Reader. It was just recently published in the series "Critical Categories in the Study of Religion" at Equinox Publishing/Acumen. Those of you who teach courses on magic might find the genre of a reader particularly useful as it includes a range of important definitions and theories all in one place. Apart from the usual suspects, i.e. excerpts of classical authors (Tylor, Frazer, Mauss/Hubert, Durkheim, van der Leeuw, Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, Horton, Tambiah, Leach), we also included a section covering pre-academic sources (from Plato to Blavatsky) and a section with original texts by five contemporary authors (Greenwood, Lehrich, Sørensen, Stratton, Styers). Have a look at the TOC:
http://www.acumenpublishing.co.uk/display.asp?K=e2012121911335322&sf1=subj_code&st1=RS&sort=sort_date/d&ds=Reference&m=18&dc=50.
All texts are seperately introduced for student readers. There is also an introduction devoted to sorting out the definition riddle, and sectional introductions which aim at embedding the selected sources in the wider discourse of the respective time.
But now enough of advertising! Best wishes from
Bernd-Christian Otto & Michael Stausberg
The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
