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Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesDean's Office, Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesJakobi 2, r 116-121 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of History and ArchaeologyJakobi 2 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Estonian and General LinguisticsJakobi 2, IV korrus 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Philosophy and SemioticsJakobi 2, III korrus, ruumid 302-337 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Cultural ResearchÜlikooli 16 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Foreign Languages and CulturesLossi 3 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of Theology and Religious StudiesÜlikooli 18 50090 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Viljandi Culture AcademyPosti 1 71004 Viljandi linn, Viljandimaa EST0Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities0Faculty of Social SciencesDean's Office, Faculty of Social SciencesLossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of EducationJakobi 5 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Johan Skytte Institute of Political StudiesLossi 36, ruum 301 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of Economics and Business AdministrationNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of PsychologyNäituse 2 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of LawNäituse 20 - 324 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Social StudiesLossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Narva CollegeRaekoja plats 2 20307 Narva linn, Ida-Virumaa EST0Pärnu CollegeRingi 35 80012 Pärnu linn, Pärnu linn, Pärnumaa EST0Professors emeriti, Faculty of Social Sciences0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Social Sciences0Faculty of MedicineDean's Office, Faculty of MedicineRavila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Biomedicine and Translational MedicineBiomeedikum, Ravila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of PharmacyNooruse 1 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of DentistryL. Puusepa 1a 50406 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Clinical MedicineL. Puusepa 8 50406 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Family Medicine and Public HealthRavila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Sport Sciences and PhysiotherapyUjula 4 51008 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTProfessors emeriti, Faculty of Medicine0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Medicine0Faculty of Science and TechnologyDean's Office, Faculty of Science and TechnologyVanemuise 46 - 208 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Computer ScienceNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of GenomicsRiia 23b/2 51010 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTEstonian Marine Institute0Institute of PhysicsInstitute of ChemistryRavila 14a 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Mathematics and StatisticsNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Molecular and Cell BiologyRiia 23, 23b - 134 51010 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTTartu ObservatoryObservatooriumi 1 61602 Tõravere alevik, Nõo vald, Tartumaa EST0Institute of TechnologyNooruse 1 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Ecology and Earth SciencesJ. Liivi tn 2 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTProfessors emeriti, Faculty of Science and Technology0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Science and Technology0Institute of BioengineeringArea of Academic SecretaryHuman Resources OfficeUppsala 6, Lossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Area of Head of FinanceFinance Office0Area of Director of AdministrationInformation Technology Office0Administrative OfficeÜlikooli 17 (III korrus) 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Estates Office0Marketing and Communication OfficeÜlikooli 18, ruumid 102, 104, 209, 210 50090 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Area of RectorRector's Strategy OfficeInternal Audit OfficeArea of Vice Rector for Academic AffairsOffice of Academic AffairsUniversity of Tartu Youth AcademyUppsala 10 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Student Union OfficeÜlikooli 18b 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Centre for Learning and TeachingArea of Vice Rector for ResearchUniversity of Tartu LibraryW. Struve 1 50091 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Grant OfficeArea of Vice Rector for DevelopmentCentre for Entrepreneurship and InnovationNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical GardenVanemuise 46 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0International Cooperation and Protocol Office0University of Tartu MuseumLossi 25 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0
European Animisms: Paulson Lectures in the Study of Religion
Paulson Lectures in the Study of Religion are organized by the Estonian Society for the Study of Religions in cooperation with the School of Theology and Religious Studies and Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore of the University of Tartu. This year the lectures will be held by Kocku von Stuckrad who is widely known scholar of Western Esotericism, discursive study of religion as well as many other issues related to the history of religion, science, and philosophy in Europe and North America.
The lectures can be watched on Youtube!
Dates and location:
7.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 – at Jakobi 2-114: The Colonial Invention of Animism
8.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 – at Jakobi 2-114: European Animisms Today
9.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 – at Jakobi 2-114: The Relational Turn and the Study of Religion
Detailed descriptions of the lectures:
7.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114
The concept of animism is deeply rooted in colonial structures. Introduced by the British anthropologist Edward B. Tylor (1871) as the belief in the animation of nature and the existence of spirits, colonial religious studies imagined animism as a ‘failed ontology.’ This ‘primitive religion’ could be found outside of Europe, mainly in Indigenous, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, but also in segments of European societies that seemed to be untouched by the project of rational, disenchanted European modernity. The lecture situates the early discourse on animism in an ambiguous European setting that is torn between fascination and rejection of animism and related trends in religion and philosophy
8.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114
While postcolonial critique resulted in a rejection of the concept of animism in most academic settings, since the 1980s, the term has gained a lot of traction in new religious and spiritual movements, first in North America and then in Europe. Particularly in nature-based spiritualities such as paganism or shamanism, animism became a positive identity marker for many people, including environmental activists and artists. Scholars, too, revisited the concept of animism and suggested new interpretations that look at animism as a relational approach to the more-than-human world. The lecture describes these developments as a general societal change, which involves ‘discourse communities’ formed by scholars, practitioners, artists, and other actors.
9.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114
The academic and popular work on the concept of animism is clearly linked to a broader change that characterizes European and North American intellectual culture today. The new scholarly interpretations of animism resonate with the ‘relational turn’ across academic disciplines, the arts, and politics. Taking seriously the relationality, entanglement, and situatedness of our knowledges is key for the study of religion as well. As it turns out, the acknowledgment of animism as a European tradition may even contribute to attempts at decolonization and de-Westernization. Against this background, the lecture formulates a few programmatic ideas for the study of religion in the 21st century.
Kocku von Stuckrad is a professor of religious studies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He has published extensively on topics related to the history of religion, science, and philosophy in Europe and North America. Using a discursive approach to religion, he has worked particularly on nature-based and esoteric spiritualities as influential currents in European tradition. His most recent book is A Cultural History of the Soul: Europe and North America from 1870 to the Present (Columbia University Press, 2021).
Ivar Paulson lectures is a lecture series organized by the Estonian Society for the Study of Religions that focus on the most noteworthy topics, issues and new developments in the contemporary study of religion. Ivar Paulson (1922-1966) was known for the wide range of peoples, religious beliefs and practices he was interested in and which he studied by combining a number of different research approaches. Similarly, Paulson lectures aim to highlight and bring together some of the more significant developments from various approaches and perspectives in the contemporary study of religion.