Witches and Witchcraft from the Middle Ages to the Present

Catalog description

This course will explore the social and cultural history of witches and witchcraft from the late Middle ages in Europe and the U.S. to the present. The very nature and broad scope of the topic lends itself to an interdisciplinary approach that combines history, folklore, religious studies, criminology, women's studies, art history, English literature and popular culture. Historically, real individuals were accused of witchcraft and suffered persecution and punishment accordingly. Others proclaimed themselves to be witches and the practice continues to attract adherents today such as in the modern Wiccan movement. However, modern consensus views witches as fictions: figures of magical power in folklore, literature, visual art and popular culture. From Shakespeare's Macbeth to the characters in the popular Harry Potter books and films, fictional witches have haunted European and American culture for centuries. This course will explore the complex interplay of fact and fiction in the history of witches and witchcraft. In other words, how do fictions become powerful enough to inform history? The course will also focus on the historical status of witches as a source of power outside of, and in opposition to, established political, religious and social structures. Since those accused of witchcraft were predominately women, how has witchcraft functioned as a means of empowerment for women as well as a tool for their persecution? And how has the representation of witches influenced attitudes towards women both historically and today? The course will begin with an historical inquiry into the belief in witchcraft during the late Middle Ages in Europe and the social and cultural role witches played in society. We will look at texts such as the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) published in 1486 as a guide for hunting and destroying witches, as well as studies on the more constructive role witchcraft may have offered women and communities. The course will be organized chronologically and move back and forth between history, such as the Salem witch trials, and the representations of that history in art, literature and film. Particular emphasis will be placed on the visual arts, from the engravings of German Renaissance artists such as Albrecht Durer and Hans Baldung Grien, the gothic paintings of Francisco Goya during the Romantic period, to contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois' monument to those executed as witches in Norway. The course will end with analysis of images of witches in popular culture, movies and television, and with a discussion of the modern representations of the domesticated witch and the femme fatale.