Fall 2025 – Anth 135

Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion

Welcome to the online Anth 135 page! Thank you for your interest in the course. Below is general information about the face-to-face and online sections.

Catalog Description

This course is a cross-cultural survey of religious beliefs and practices with an emphasis on small-scale societies. Topics include but are not limited to rituals, myths, shamanism, altered states of consciousness, healing, magic, divination, witchcraft, death, new religious movements, and globalization.

Catalog and SLO information  This course satisfies: CSU Area C2 – Arts and Humanities; UC Area 3B – Arts and Humanities* Students should be aware that this is not a course that promotes a particular religious or spiritual belief. We will not discuss whether a religion is true or false. The focus will be on critically exploring different religious beliefs and practices with as little judgment as possible.

Text Requirements

There is one required text to purchase:

Course Requirements

Online Course: For the asynchronous online sections, we will not be meeting at a certain time each week as a class.  To take this online course you need to have regular access to a reliable computer(s) and also have a backup in case problems arise.

In order to meet the learning outcomes of this course, students may be required to have a webcam turned on during assessments (such as quizzes, exams, and presentations).

General Coursework

Online Course: For the asynchronous sections, the general coursework will consist of weekly readings from the texts and articles posted on Canvas, weekly online quizzes, discussion board forums and/or assignments, and exams.

Accessing the Online Course

If you are enrolled, you should be able to access the online class by Monday, August 25.  I will send an e-mail notifying you when the course is available.

Adding/Crashing a Course

If you are on a waitlist and/or would like to add one of the sections, please send me an email by Monday, August 25.

Thank you for taking the time to review the information. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions. I look forward to working with you this coming fall semester.

Have a wonderful day.