Healing Matters. The Anthropology of Hybrid and 'Traditional' Ritual Mediations 3102-FHM

During the webinar, we will discuss contemporary healing practices, in which new forms of ritualization and ritual expertise intersect with technologized mediations and references to imagined tradition. To define the scope of healing, we draw on research concerning the techniques and concepts of the body, the environment, new infrastructures, and power dynamics. We aim to compare phenomena such as healing practices within the New Age movement, neopaganism, as well as new Christian movements like Pentecostalism, and practices that straddle the boundaries of biomedicine and ritualization,, which proliferate in various parts of the globe.

We argue that the shared features of these practices across are neither coincidental nor rooted in their archetypal nature. Instead, they are closely tied to the circulation of meanings, objects, and practices within a postcolonial, globally integrated world and its center-periphery dynamics.

Term 2025:

28.10.2025 Introduction for students (offline)

25.11.2025 lecturer: Piotr Cichocki

16.12.2025 guest lecturer: Emili Pierini (la Sapienza, University of Roma, Italy)
27.01.2026 guest lecturer: Géraldine Mossière (Université de Montréal, Canada)
24.02.2026 guest lecturer: Paul Stoller (West Chester University, US)
24.03.2026 guest lecturer: Michael Strmiska (SUNY Orange, US)
28.04.2026 guest lecturer: Natalia Zawiejska (Jagielonian University, Krakow, Poland)
26.05.2026 guest lecturer: Lee Scharnick-Udemans (University of the Western Cape, South Africa)
16.06.2026 lecturer: Viola Teisenhoffer (Universite of Liege) and Agnes Kędzierska Manzon (EPHE Paris)

19.06.2026 Exposés and evaluations of students

Type of course

optional courses

Prerequisites (description)

(in Polish) The course is open to all students of any level. Very good knowledge of English required, enabling critical reading of texts and discussions in English. Knowledge of African history and contemporary is not mandatory but helpful.

Course coordinators

Piotr Cichocki

Learning outcomes

Student is able to use such categories as: New Age and modern Paganisms in his/her analysis of the empirical materials

Student increases his/her reflexivity in the perception of processes taking place in the African and Europe religiosity and their link to the social life of various groups.

Student develops his/her competences to critically look at religion as well as critically discuss various aspects of social life

Assessment criteria

The final grade is:

1. Class Attendance, Participation and Preparation (50% of the final grade) - permitted one unexcused absence, Active participation in class discussions - at least one question / comment as the attendance; Response Papers:

2. Final Presentation (50% of the final grade)- An 8-10 minute presentation during the final session. The topic should be a phenomenon that represents an analogy to the issues discussed throughout the course. Students are expected to draw clear and insightful parallels between their chosen case study and the course material.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3102-FHM in USOSweb