HIST 2910A: ‘Witches and Witchcraft in Britain 1500-1700’

HIST 2910A: ‘Witches and Witchcraft in Britain 1500-1700’
Early Summer May-June 2023

Introduction: This fully online asynchronous course invites you to explore witchcraft, witch-hunts, and witch crazes in sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain. Witches were the epitome of a ‘world turned upside down’, and we will be seeking ways in which to understand this extraordinary period through the writings of believers and sceptics, trial records, pamphlets, images, and plays. Themes will include popular belief in witchcraft and magic, the role of the devil in society, changes in religious belief associated with the Reformation, crime and punishment, the household and the family, gender and sexuality, animals and the natural world, poverty and social disorder. Throughout the six weeks we will refer to two key texts from the middle of the period: a pamphlet about Elizabeth Sawyer, an elderly woman tried, convicted, and executed for witchcraft on 19 April 1621 and a popular play about her life.

Class Format: This is an asynchronous, online course, organized in three two-week modules. Each module will offer lectures, readings, links to resources etc. which you can work through at your own pace, but to help you schedule your work the three modules will be time-released. The first two-week module will go live at noon on Friday 5 May, the day after the start of term. The second two-week module will go live at noon on Friday 19 May, and the final two-week module at noon on Friday 2 June. The term ends on Friday 16 June.

Goals and Aims: You will leave the course with an excellent understanding of witchcraft in early modern Britain gained through a critical engagement with primary sources and with a familiarity with innovative historical methodologies in our quest to understand and represent this very troubled past.

Assessment: three online quizzes based on videos and lecture materials; three short assignments addressing primary sources; and a take home examination which can be in the form of a paper, podcast, exhibit, comic, game design document, script, film, music composition etc.

Texts: All readings will be provided online through Brightspace.

Questions? Please email me at David.Dean@carleton.ca