Degree in magic to be offered at University of Exeter

[Pixiedust1234]

No idea where to post this really (ugh..thought I had posted in the FWR chat part!). Should it be Religion or Parenting or normal Chat. But figured there might be a few witches in these frozen parts of MN. And they talk about dragons, are they not dinosaurs in disguise?

Actually, it does sound interesting. One of those subjects that start in one place and meanders totally naturally into another.

"Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism and anti-racism are at the core of this programme."

A choice of modules includes dragons in western literature and art, the legend of King Arthur, palaeography, Islamic thought, archaeological theory and practice and the depiction of women in the Middle Ages.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66981924

Isnt Sunak about to do away with degrees like this? Be quick.

Sounds fascinating, I wouldnt mind doing that myself. Given that I spent a good year of my Englush degree reading fairy tales it doesn't sound so odd.

It sounds really interesting but, will Muslims be okay that Islamic thought is part of magic?

In any case the point was not to assign the credit to any one person but to emphasize that scientific achievement isn't limited to the 'West' (itself a massive catch-all term for various cultures). Or any one culture in particular.

Agree. ‘The west’ is itself a strange concept. I mentioned the Mayans - are they part of ‘The West’ ? Or does ‘The West’ refer to European cultures exported around the globe? But European traded and mixed extensively with countries surrounding the Mediterranean so where do we place Turkey, Egypt, Syria?

Usually the West is going to refer primarily to European cultures, but of course you can't draw a hard line around that. If you study the origins of western thought you will be including Middle Eastern and North African influences and connections, and then in the later periods and especially the modern period you get all kinds of meeting up of cultures and influences at various points.

In the same way someone can study Middle Eastern or Islamic culture, which extends all over the globe but is a recognizable thing, or similarly in other parts of the world.

Nope. Those plans relate to what the government define as 'low quality' undergraduate degrees. This is an MA.

Good. it sounds very attractive.

I don't know about this university but at mine there's no way you'd get a course validated on a whim, not in the current climate.
They will have had to prove its viable and will produce good outcomes

Given that MA's can be quite the moneymaking scheme for universities and this looks unlikely to attract moneyed international students I'm wondering who the target audience is, and what 'outcomes' it's expected to produce.

It's really only an extension of what already exists in the History and Theology depts. DD is a History undergrad, but has taken some Theology modules, they are pretty flexible at Exeter. Some of her essays have covered themes similar, with cross modular reference to the treatment and status of women in the Medieval period and earlier, with regards to their religion, or beliefs, as witches or mystics, Joan of Arc and others more obscure.

anyone interested in contemporary or historical occult practices.

outcome: same as any history/anthropology course.

It's not that simple. Specialist MA's have targeted outcomes.
Exeter's page for Medieval Studies for example:
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/history/medievalma/
"Develop valuable skills for a career in the heritage sector."

For the Magic MA:
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/arabislamic/magic-occult-science/

• "Graduate with the skills to and knowledge needed to influence and drive business strategies that make a positive contribution to the environment and society.

For all their other MA's in the same department is just says 'your value of kurdish/Gulf/whatever will be valued by public and private sector employers'. They could have just put that too - why didn't they? Why the emphasis on a positive contribution and what's the relevance of the environment here?

All courses have an employability listing I can see why for example knowledge of the Gulf state would be useful in government, policy making and risk consulting roles. I don't see what Magic and Occult sciences do - perhaps for museums in it (not many), consultants for fantasy novels, movies etc but then the choice of modules is so wide it doesn't look like they'd be a SME in anything.

Bear in mind, again that a MA is not like undergraduate especially in the humanities - it's for a deep specialism in a specific area of interest. Shoehorning loads of stuff into it is quite odd.

I think once you get to MA level, the more niche the better!

I think you’re way overthinking this.

Like I said same as any history/anthro MA

It’s basically a history masters, sounds very interesting. It’s only getting this level of coverage because the “hell in a handcart” crowd have latched onto it and are apparently incapable of reading beyond the headline.

I find the degree content interesting FWIW. It's the context and political flavour around it that I find odd.

@GodessOfThunder I can tell you don't work in academia - people don't just create new degrees for fun - a lot of thinking will have gone around to what it offers beyond a standard history/anthro degree.

It’s obvious what the content offers that is different

i was referring the outcomes more