New Science, Old Magic

Abstract

Sociological and symbolical interpreters of magic singlemindedly ignore the occult questions that magic raises. The social sciences simply have no methods for inspecting extraordinary causal claims, which they regard as superfluous to the real purpose of magic. Any effort to verify or falsify occult claims would simply sidetrack the researcher from the proper manner of understanding magical phenomena. Hard scientists, who like to tinker with ideas, are more likely to take the boasts of magicians literally, if only for the sake of exposing their fakery. Recently, a new trend in medical and physical research has begun to regard magic both literally and sympathetically as an area worthy of serious study. This chapter looks at a few representative ideas and asks whether such new science projects explain magic, or explain it away. It examines the relatively new field of medical anthropology, and more specifically medical ecology, magical healing and folk healing, and psychoneuroimmunology.

The Holy Cow: Unravelling the Mystery of its Holiness

“…The same has been affirmed by Norman Brown in his attempt to reconcile referring to the bull six times and cow 42 times as ‘ aghnya’ (‘not to be slain’) in the Rigveda and Atharvaveda , wherein he rationalizes the non-killing of the cow for its economic value as a producer of a calf, and of the bull or ox for their capacity as drought animals (Brown, 1964). Harris’ obsession with ecological factors influencing the exalted status of the cow has been termed as ‘calculus of calories’ by Ariel Glucklich (1997, p. 189), and Elizabeth Thomas critiques such an economically grounded argument as an under-determination, for it reduces the issue of sanctity to utility (Thomas, 2013). Moreover, Shraddha Chigateri too considers an ecological understanding of the ‘use value of cows’ as masking the ‘prioritizing of dominant-caste Hindu identity’ in cow protection injunctions (Chigateri, 2011).…”

Doubtful Illusions: Magic, Wonder and the Politics of Virtue in the Sathya Sai Movement

“…Through the manipulation of the rhetoric around the materializations, Sai Baba and his devotees hope to achieve transgression not only of the bounds of secrecy regarding them but also to the ambivalence surrounding their (Puett, 2002). The inversion maneuver returning to nativistic explanations of maya allow for a problematizing of the Western scientific discourse that in turn attracts many devotees disenchanted with the materiality of (Glucklich 1997). He gestures to the breaking of the boundaries of what constitutes dialogic discourse as well as what constitutes belief in him.…”