What’s in a Name? The Challenges of Defining Sufism
By M. Shobhana Xavier Since my arrival at CAS-E, I’ve been provoked by the question of what is (western) esotericism. It’s been only three weeks for me here at the centre, but my colleagues are thinking about how to frame, deconstruct, problematize, and perhaps reconstruct this label that means many things for the fellows from […]
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
Spiritist and Allopathic Views of Healing in Brazil
By Steven Engler What are the differences between how alternative healers and medical doctors think about healing? To look at that question, I interviewed three groups of people in a small city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. (There were 28 interviewees in this a small initial study.) 40% were Kardecists and Umbandists. In […]
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. […]
Writing with the Phoenix Stylus
In July, CAS-E has the great pleasure of welcoming a group of guests specialized in the ancient practice of Fuji (扶乩 or 扶箕), which is commonly translated as “spirit writing”. Coming all the way from Taiwan upon invitation from CAS-E director, Prof. Michael Lackner, their medium will demonstrate how they convey messages from deities, ancestors […]
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 […]
Lecture Series Summer 2025
