Gender Studies 333Y - Witches in Modern Imagination

'From the middle ages to the present day, witches have evoked both fear and fascination. Their fellowships (real or fantastic) challenged the prevailing power structures of church and state patriarchies and upset the ordered precepts of the modern world. This seminar offers an overview of the history of witchcraft in Atlantic cultures, with special attention to the early modern British and American colonial eras. We will examine figures of the witch in European art; religious and legal texts that document the persecution of sorcerers; and dramatic, literary, and cinematic representations of witches that have helped to shape our understanding of gender, nature, theatricality, and power.'

Instructor Permission Required. Prereq: Jr, Sr, Gender Studies 101 and permission of instructor. Preference to Gender Studies majors.