Module description
This module introduces you to anthropological approaches to dreaming and religious visions in shamanic andanimistic societies. Dreams are often understood as what we experience when asleep, but ethnographic studiesfrom around the world show a wide variety of dreaming experiences, including sleeping dreams, waking dreams, lucid dreams, shamanic dreams, priestly dreams, prognosticatory dreams, nightmares, the ideal dream life, andeven ethnographic dreams. In this module, we invite you to think through the diverse ways in which dreams anddreaming are experienced in cross-cultural perspective - and to debate what dreams or religious visions are.
https://keats.kcl.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=3196015&chapterid=263671
Assessment details
Written examination/s;coursework
One 2,500-word essay (40&) and one two-hour examination (60%)
Educational aims & objectives
- to provide an overview of current anthropological approaches to how dreams and religious visions are experienced the world over among shamanic and animistic peoples
- to provide opportunities to engage in debates about what constitutes a dream or a religious vision using a wide range of ethnographic case studies
- to give a critical assessment of the different forms that dreams may take, through key studies of how they are experienced in animistic or shamanic religions
- to develop the ability to work with ethnographic sources and anthropological analysis to improve analytical, argumentative and presentational skills
Learning outcomes
- to gain detailed knowledge of dreaming in shamanic and animistic societies
- to be able to identify the main anthropological and ethnographic approaches to dreams, dreaming, and religious visions
- to be able to demonstrate a sophisticated approach to the anthropological study of shamanism, animism, dreams,and religious vision
Teaching pattern
Two-hour weekly classes over ten weeks.