Hi Anna,
Welcome to the list. It's too bad your dissertation advisor is unfamiliar with the subject matter of your research; not to alarm you, but this might cause some friction in the future, so best be prepared. It would be very helpful if you had at least one member of your committee who was both familiar with and friendly to your work.
There is by now a growing academic literature on Wiccan-based paganism, including doing ethnographic fieldwork with contemporary magical groups. Besides Greenwood's two books, very significant for the UK, and my book _Witching Culture_ (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), all recently mentioned on this list, you need to check the following:
Jone Salomonsen, _Enchanted Feminism: the Reclaiming Withces of San Francisco_ (Routledge, 2003)
Sarah Pike, _Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: contemporary pagans and the search for community_ (U California Press, 2001)
Raquel Romberg, _Witchcraft and Welfare: spiritual practice and the business of magic_ (U Texas Press, 2003)
Jenny Blain, Doug Ezzy and another scholar whose name escapes me now have recently put out a book with Alta Mira press on issues in studying contemporary paganisms; clearly this book is key for your study.
Ronald Hutton has a chapter entitled "Living With Witchcraft" in his _Witches, Druids and King Arthur_ (Hambledon, 2004) in which he discusses the historian's equivalent of participant-observation among contemporary Witches, Druids and pagans in the UK. His _Triumph of the Moon_ (Oxford U Press, 1999) is now considered the definitive history of modern pagan witchcraft; it is indispensable. Also watch publication announcements for a forthcoming book of his which does much the same for modern (i.e. post 1600) Druidism.
Tanya Luhrmann's _Persuasions of the Witches' Craft_ (Harvard U Press, 1989) is an earlier book which is nevertheless significant in its controversial fieldwork approach and pre-post-modern author's stance. You cannot be doing fieldwork in the UK and not cite/ deal with it.
Some earlier work which is also helpful includes:
Loretta Orion, _Never Again the Burning Times_ (Waveland Press, 1995) US-based and by now a bit outdated, but nevertheless significant in that it was a pinoeering work.
James R. Lewis, ed., _Magical Religions & Modern Witchcraft_ (SUNY Press, 1996) -- a collection of articles, only a few are good: check out Pike's literature review and discusion of field methodology and stance, for instance.
Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman, _Paganism Today_ (Thorsons, 1995) is a collection of essays that gives a good overview of UK paganisms a decade ago or more.
In addition, many of these authors have published separate papers in scholarly journals addressing more specific aspects of paganism, magic, Craft and field methods, so check the online databases available through your university.
There is a small but growing literature on anthropologists working within traditional societies who have had "extraordinary experiences" in the field, which should also be helpful to you; in particular, see the work of Edith Turner, Young & Goulet, Grindal, and Lee (all cited in the Intro of _Witching Culture_). This writing forces us as ethnologists to confront the issues of the social construction of reality and the nature of "extraordinary" experience.
You should also cultivate a thorough familiarity with the now vast literature on postmodern critical theory in anthropology and ethnology, and its effect on methodology. This list is not the place for a discussion of this huge bibliography, but I trust your advisor can fill you in if you don't already know this stuff. I particularly recommend to you the works of Lila Abu-Lughod, Ruth Behar (including her edited volume _Women Writing Culture_), and of course Ruby, Clifford & Marcus, etc.
You may contact me off-list if you have further questions.
All the best in your work,
Sabina Magliocco
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:12:39 +0000
>From: anna hudson <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Greenwood's The Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of Consciousness
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Hi! and thank you for the welcome. I am an undergrad
> at Durham Uni reading anthropolgy. For my
> dissertation which I am doing my field work and
> research for ove r the summer I am exploring
> contemporary witchcraft practices in the UK. As I am
> based in the NE my informants will probably have to
> come from this area.I was thinking of looking at the
> phenomenology of witchcraft and probably wicca
> witches but am unsure and a little lost and
> overwhelmed by the manytypes, variants, approaches
> to the subject. To make matters worse my supervisor
> is (so far) little help and directed me rowards
> Deadly Words by Favret Saada which I feel isn't
> really quite what I should be reading. Cananyone
> give any advice/pointers as what to read and on
> fieldwork techniques and methology. Any advice would
> be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Anna Hudson
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
>
Sabina Magliocco
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
California State University
18111 Nordhoff St.
Northridge, CA 91330-8244
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