Transformative practices of Western Sufis
Oleg Yarosh My individual research is associated with the CAS-E project Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective funded by the DFG. The research investigates spiritual practices within Western Sufi communities, focusing particularly on practitioners’ perspectives – both those of community leaders and ordinary members. It examines ‘traditional practices,’ understood as those embedded […]
Exploring knowledge as transformation of the self in Sufi circles
Lili Di Puppo During my July talk at CAS-E, I presented initial reflections on what I call “the vertical dimension of knowledge.” This perspective, which I developed together with my colleague Fabio Vicini in the introduction to our 2024 special section Muslim Ontologies: Divine Presence, Anthropology, and Transcendence (Vicini and Di Puppo 2024, HAU – […]
Buddhist Psychology as Esoteric Activism?
By Albrecht, Jessica A “Buddhist psychology” is a naming of a specific understanding of Buddhist teachings (such as mindfulness) and practices (such as meditation) that came up first in the late 19th century. Back then, it was one of the main interests of orientalist scholarship. The most prominent producer of such scholarship in the realm […]
The Mind in Hand: Introducing the Knowing Hands Project
Marta Hanson The opportunity to speak on May 27th (2025) in the CAS-E summer semester lecture series, turned out to be a timely and appropriate milieu to introduce the “Knowing Hands” project.1 The Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR) and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) will jointly fund this project for three years (6.2025-5.2028). On the ANR […]
Warum lieben wir Magie, Dr. Bernd Christian Otto?
Montag, 26. Mai 2025. Die beliebtesten Traumreisen auf Entspannung wirkt tragen magische Titel: Der Magische Wintergarten, Magie der Erde, Der Magische Wunderladen. Aber warum ist das so? Warum zieht uns das Wort Magie so sehr an – auch als Erwachsene? Und warum hatte ich als Journalistin gleichzeitig oft das Bedürfnis, mich davon abzugrenzen? Weiter zum Interview hier.
CAS-E Newsletter 2025/02
Daoist Internal Alchemy and Science in Contemporary Taiwan
Workshop organized by CAS-E Fellow Prof. Fabrizio Pregadio. July 10-11, 2025, CAS-E, Big Seminar Room in D1, Hartmannstr. 14, Erlangen Open to the public For information: fabrizio.pregadio@fau.de This workshop addresses a subject barely explored in Western-language scholarship: the modernization and “scientization” of the Daoist practice of Internal Alchemy (Neidan) in contemporary Taiwan. […]
Ownership and Hidden Knowledges in Indigenous South America and Beyond: Human and Non-Human Sounds, Images, and Bodies
Workshop organized by CAS-E Alumnus Dr. Juan Rivera In collaboration with: Prof. Dr. Cecilie Odegaard (University of Bergen) June 12–13, 2025, CAS-E, Big Seminar Room in D1, Hartmannstr. 14, Erlangen For participation and other information: jjriveraandia@gmail.com This workshop is dedicated to the comparative exploration of hidden knowledges and ritual practices in four dimensions of life […]
Reflection upon “Dreamcraft in the Malay Art World”
By Douglas Stephen Farrer Living in Singapore and Malaysia for nine years (1998-2007) I researched Malay mysticism for a doctoral thesis in anthropology at the National University of Singapore (Farrer 2009). Visiting the beautiful gardens of political author S. H. Alattas in Janda Baik, Malaysia, at the fin de siècle, I stumbled across a variant […]
The Digital as a Space for Esoteric Practices: An Anthropological Study of Esoteric Practices in Contemporary Iran
CAS-E Associated Scholar Maryam Abbasi investigates the digital as a space for esoteric practices in her project at the Institute of Sociology, Chair of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. The project, commenced in February 2024, culminates in the publication of a monograph on esoteric practices in contemporary […]
