Program Overview

Acadia University Programs

Acadia University offers a wide range of programs for undergraduate and graduate students. The university is divided into several faculties, including Arts, Professional Studies, Pure & Applied Science, and Theology.

Undergraduate Programs

The undergraduate programs at Acadia University include:

• Arts
  • Canadian Studies
  • Classics
  • Economics
  • English
  • Environmental and Sustainability Studies
  • French
  • German
  • History
  • Law and Society
  • Philosophy
  • Politics
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Theatre
  • Women's and Gender Studies
• Professional Studies
  • Business Administration
  • Community Development
  • Education
  • Kinesiology
  • Music
  • Nursing
• Pure & Applied Science
  • Applied Bioscience
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Computer Science
  • Economics
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Geoscience
  • Environmental Science
  • Geology
  • Mathematics and Statistics
  • Mathematics Education
  • Nutrition and Dietetics
  • Physics
  • Psychology
• Theology
• Honours
  • Undergraduate Summer Research Awards (USRAs)

Graduate Programs

The graduate programs at Acadia University include:

• Arts
  • English
  • Political Science
  • Social & Political Thought
  • Sociology
• Professional Studies
  • Applied Kinesiology
  • Community Development
  • Education
  • Educational Studies
• Pure & Applied Science
  • Applied Geomatics
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Computer Science
  • Environmental Science
  • Geology
  • Mathematics and Statistics
  • Psychology

Course Details

The Sociology of Magic and Religion

An examination of how belief systems and their symbolic representations give meaning to the universe and one's place in it. Topics to include the nature of ritual, the structure of myth, magic, witchcraft and how these beliefs contribute to social and cultural change.

• Instructor: Ann Marie Powers
• Prerequisites: 6h from SOCI 1006, 1106, 1013, 1023, 1033, 1113 or equivalent
• Course Type: Online; Continuous-intake. Register anytime and learn at your own pace

This course will focus on ways anthropologists have attempted to understand, define and study belief systems cross-culturally. Emphasis is on the role of ritual, myth, and symbol in small-scale societies with examples ranging from witchcraft beliefs to syncretic religious traditions (Vodou). The course does not focus on the world's major religious traditions, per se; however, there is some discussion of these traditions. The overriding question students should keep in mind is: "what makes magic and religion such a remarkably powerful social force in human life?"