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A minor point, perhaps, but as someone who contributed to this volume, and thought seriously about no to engage with a significant fraction of the scholars who are represented in it, I would argue — as indeed I note in my chapter — that the problem of colonialist, imperialist, and/or ethnocentric perspectives marring categorical formations is a central issue for many of us. It is true, to be sure, that none of the contributors is other than "Anglo-European" — a curious locution to me, but whatever — if you want to define us so. Does this mean it is impossible for us to avoid pure ethnocentrism? How about Randy Styers, whose book Making Magic is focused precisely on how white, male, western scholars have tried to constitute the category "magic" in such a way as to shore up and defend their societies' narrow, colonialist notions of "religion" and "science"? Is that colonialist hegemonic discourse? Two final short points: 1. To define all of the contributors as somehow participant in a single, monolithic culture denies the differences among European and American cultures across many centuries. That is the very gesture to which N.W. Azal objects, as dismissive and reductive. 2. To claim that our scholarship must be hegemonic and colonialist because we are white is to make a strongly racist statement. Again, it is simply to borrow colonialist weaponry and thus assist in colonial discourses' desires to suppress alterity as well as engagement. Buy the book, and tell us what you think once you've actually read it. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover. Chris Lehrich Christopher I. Lehrich Assistant Professor, Boston University Vice President, North American Association for the Study of Religion On Jan 16, 2013, at 8:54 AM, "N.W. Azal" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Who are the none Europeans in the volume? Where are the Asians, Africans, South Americans, Middle Easterners? Start there, Dr. Segal -- the blatantly obvious. > > On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:53 PM, Segal, Professor Robert A. <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> Jan. 16 >> >> Dear Nick and Dave, >> >> When, for example, Malinowski wrote about magic, he was using native categories. Many other academics--e.g., Tambiah--do the same. >> >> And the debate over magic even among Western scholars has always been intense. There is no uniform Western position. Western scholars, who have the advantage of professional training, are not some brainwashed group indoctrinated with a single viewpoint. >> >> Why not show some gumption and ask just what is being left out? The burden should be on critics. >> >> Robert Segal >> ________________________________________ >> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nicholas Campion [[log in to unmask]] >> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:35 PM >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Defining magic >> >> Dave, >> >> A good thought, and I would agree. I am always careful to include the word western: >> >> Campion, Nicholas, A History of Western Astrology, Vol 1. The Ancient World, London: Continuum, 2009, London: Continuum, 2008, Vol. 2, The Medieval and Modern Worlds, London: Continuum, 2009. >> http://www.continuumbooks.com/authors/details.aspx?AuthorId=150670&BookId=133908 >> >> Campion, Nicholas, Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement (Abingdon: Ashgate, 2012). >> >> http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409435143 >> >> In another book I was painfully constrained by the absence of available published sources by authors outside a western context. I discuss such source problems throughout. >> >> Campion, Nicholas, Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions (New York: New York University Press, 2012). >> http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=4779 >> >> Cheers, >> >> Nick >> >> Dr Nicholas Campion >> Programme Director, MA Cultural Astronomy and Astrology >> Senior Lecturer, School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, >> University of Wales Trinity Saint David, >> Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, SA48 7ED, UK. >> http://www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk/en/sophia/ >> >> >> >> >> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Green >> Sent: 16 January 2013 12:51 >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Defining magic >> >> I can see this N.W. and it is a problem, but it is a text about Western magic, perhaps that should have been in the title. >> >> Dr Dave Green >> >> Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK >> >> Society for the Academic Study of Magic (SASM): https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC >> >> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=653230719 >> >> ________________________________ >> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of N.W. Azal [[log in to unmask]] >> Sent: 16 January 2013 12:42 >> To: [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. >> >> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/2013114142638797542.html >> >> On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 11:58 AM, David Green <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >> Bernd, >> >> This looks great. Thanks for posting. >> >> Dave >> >> Dr Dave Green >> >> Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK >> >> Society for the Academic Study of Magic (SASM): https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC >> >> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=653230719 >> ________________________________________ >> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of Bernd-Christian Otto [[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]> >> 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. >