CFP: Magical and Sacred Medical World, Aug 28-30, 2009

Magical and Sacred Medical World

A three-day international conferenceat the Pécs Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pécs, Hungary

on August 28-30 2009 (Friday to Sunday)

Organised by the Department of European Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Pécs & Hungarian Ethnographical Society

1st Circular

Dear Colleague,

We hereby invite you to our conference and request you to enhance its success by sharing with us the results of your research work.

This conference is the eighth event in a series launched in 1993 under the title Concepts of religious ethnology in an interdisciplinary perspective. Our initial declaration of purpose is valid to this day: to gain a deeper understanding of the various concepts of religious ethnology, to survey the latest results in the fields of folklore studies, anthropology, comparative religion, medical history, psychiatry, literary theory etc.; to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue between the various academic disciplines and the researchers active in various institutions in order to resolve the theoretical challenges that face us.

Thus far, our conferences have only been open to Hungarian scholars. This time we are broadening the scope of the event, partly in response to the express encouragement of some colleagues from both Eastern and Western Europe, but also as our own declared intention. We wish to find out more about the current European research problematic of the field and at the same time open a wider horizon to the rich and colourful vista of “magical and sacred medical world” in Europe.

We use a broad definition of the possible subject areas of the conference: any aspect of ethno-medicine may be of interest which concerns magical or sacred concepts of health and illness; perpetrators of illness, illnesses themselves, religious or magical rites for curing or averting illness; healing deities, saints and sacred places or the role that any of these play in the society, religion, mentality or everyday life of a community, as well as representations of the above in the medium of folklore, literature, art or science. Without any methodological, chronological or geographic limitations we welcome any theoretical work in folklore, anthropology, cultural history, sociology etc., as well as research findings based on comparative historical research, textual philology, archive research or anthropological field work in or outside of Europe. The following is a possible list of examples for potential subject areas:

Supernatural causes and perpetrators of illness: divine punishment, breech of taboo, impurity – devil, illness demon, childbed demon, dead people, ‘impure ones’, mertvyaki, zalozhniye, Nachtvolk, Arme Seelen, Wütendes Heer, ’the unbaptised,’ ’the shadows’, iskios, stafia, fairies, exotika, ’the ladies from outside’, Alp, Mahr, Schratt, moroi, mora, Mahr, mara, nora, vampire, werewolf, karakondzuli/kallikantsari, sântoaderi/todorci, demonic witches etc., night-time assaults by ghosts, pressing demons, being possessed, ’struck,’ ’snatched,’ ’shot,’ the sucking of blood or milk, etc.

Human and magical causes and methods of causing illness: witches and witchcraft, spells, curses, evil eye, black fasting, bewitchment by occult means, actions that cause bewitchment – touching, symbolic destruction, ‘eating’, introducing objects inside the body, ‘having somebody done,’ ‘sending’, assault in a ghost shape etc.

Supernatural healers, diagnostics and healing, deities, saints, fairies, angels – ordeal, divine possession, prayer, sacrifice, fasting, pilgrimage, touching relics or sacred images, blessings, sacramentalia, miracles, healing in a dream or vision, incubation, music and dancing in the church, etc.

Human agents and rituals of diagnostics, averting or healing: priests, sacred kings, living saints, shamans, witches, seers, fortune tellers, healers, fairy magicians, healing corporations; divine judgement, diagnostic tests (measuring, casting water, casting led or wax etc.); invocations, sacrifices, prayers, benedictions, exorcism of demons, purifying rites (bathing, smoking etc.); touching, votive masses, cursing masses, possession cults (ca(lus,arii, rusalia, nestinars, tarantism, argia), etc.

There are a great many phenomena that we know in the context of the religious or magical aspects of European ethno-medicine – those listed are only a narrow cross-section. Yet, there are not many theoretical efforts to place the individual phenomena in a broader context of religious anthropology, folklore, history etc, although in some areas the last few decades have brought serious progress (e.g. in the research of shrines, possession, relevant aspects of shamanism or witchcraft, investigation of bewitchment, charms and spells or the historical data of a narrow location, e.g. medical practices in the area of Naples, describing its ‘sacred system’ of medicine). Similarly rare are interdisciplinary approaches to the subject which simultaneously take into account, for example, considerations of medical science, folklore studies and religious anthropology. There are hardly any examinations of contemporary medical practice through the eyes of modern anthropological method and extensive field work, except the well-known Italian and Greek examples. This is regrettable as in fact Europe is no poorer in research opportunities than the traditional societies outside of Europe. Thus it is natural that accounts on such research are more than welcome – papers that discuss the connections, local systems of these phenomena and the role played in the local community or analyse the broader religious anthropological, medical historical or folklore ramifications of medical phenomena. Naturally, scholars presenting research findings from outside of Europe are equally welcome.

The conference takes place in two languages: English and Hungarian (possibly French or German). These will be organised in two parallel sections or two alternating time periods, depending on the number of applicants. In the latter case foreign participants will be offered optional cultural events or outings while the Hungarian presentations are taking place. In any case, abstracts will be available in both languages. The translations of entire papers will depend on budget. In order to offer the widest possible access to resources, we request applicants to do the following:

Submit your registration accompanied by an abstract of 10-15 sentences no later than December 20th 2008. Use the enclosed registration form and indicate which language you wish to use. Please, include the English version of the title of your paper in any case. Please, submit your full papers before June 1st 2009. Any necessary translations of abstracts will be carried out by us during July and August, and we shall send copies of the lectures for all participants before the conference by e-mail.

Costs of participation are presently being calculated, and all efforts will be made to keep participation costs as low as possible. We shall be sending out information about the results of our fund-raising efforts in early 2009. (Should we fail to secure outside funding, costs for 3 days and 3 or 4 nights are estimated to be around EUR 200, excluding travel expenses.)

The conference will consist of a maximum number of 50 full-length papers. Should there be more applicants, we shall be forced to select presenters; however, there will be no limitation on the number of non-presenting participants. We reserve the right to reject papers on grounds of inadequacy of subject matter or other reasons.

Best regards

November 15 2008, Éva Pócs

Registration form can be downloaded here.

Please, send your registration to the following address by e-mail or post:

Éva Pócs
Pécs University
Dept. of European Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
H-7624 Pécs
Rókus u. 2.
Hungary
e-mail: pocse@chello.hu