October 16, 2025

Zoom link: [pending]

Dr. Phil Stevens, SUNY Buffalo

Talk summary:

Magic and witchcraft are among the most-studied topics in all the social sciences and humanities. Early in his career Phil Stevens realized some neglected but critically important aspects of them, and last year his conclusions were published by Routledge. He will talk to us about the 6 characteristics of the best meaning of “magic,” and the 14 attributes of ethnological-historical witchcraft, that indicate these are universal, inherently human, perhaps rooted in the evolutionary biology of our species. His description of “magical thinking” reveals universally similar cognitive processes; these are evident in several ritual concepts and practices, including the magical act, sorcery, communication, taboo and pollution, divination, and magical protection and healing. The witch combines universal human fears and fantasies; in societies which lack witches, these manifest in other supernatural forms.

Bio:

Phil Stevens received his B.A. from Yale in English in 1963, then worked for three years with the Peace Corps in Nigeria. (During that time, he taught high school English, and worked for the federal Antiquities Department on several projects of traditional art, including the Stone Images of Esie, which he has called “Africa’s Greatest Mystery”.) He entered the graduate anthropology program at Northwestern, returned to Nigeria for dissertation research, and received his Ph.D in 1973.  During 48 years with the anthropology department at the State University of New York, Buffalo, he conducted further research in Nigeria and the Caribbean, received two awards for teaching and an honorary Nigerian chieftaincy title, and published many items in anthropology and African studies. He retired in 2019.