Occult Media

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In this seminar, we will contend with definitions of media and how they interface with the occult. Throughout the quarter, students will conduct archival research, learn about media archaeology, and discover occult media in its many forms, including horror films, online folklore, divination tools, Ouija boards, tabloid reports of the Satanic Panic, magic lantern shows, spiritualist and countercultural periodicals, optical toys, podcast episodes, popular music, religious technology like Scientology’s E-Meter, and more. Each student will be guided through a personalized archival research project that includes a trip to special collections at UCSB Library.