Vision and Mystery: Spirits, Fields, Truths

How do people apprehend signs, traces or apparitions that emanate from what we might call the spiritual, sublime or mystical realms? How does 'seeing' or otherwise sensing the mysterious register within broader regimes of knowledge, power and truth? This course explores dimensions of key enigmas that transect spirituality, consciousness and fields of vision across cultural and historical settings. It foregrounds anthropological work, but it also draws upon related work in history, philosophy, literature, psychoanalysis, and film. Topics include mysticism, vitality, dreams, presence, healing, mediums, initiations, and transcendence.