One can imagine that today’s students are of the generation who, while anxiously checking the post for a real-life acceptance, may wish that a letter from Hogwarts would drop through their letterbox.
But they can now study the roots of spells as part of a new degree in magic at Exeter University, which will also include the study of dragons and witches, and the legend of King Arthur.
The course, based in the university’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies and one of the only postgraduate courses of its kind across the UK, will also encourage students to “decolonise” their thinking about the foundation of Western science, acknowledging its debt to Arabic magic and philosophy.
Prof Emily Selove, who leads the course, said: “A recent surge in interest in magic and the occult inside and outside of academia lies at the heart of the most urgent questions of our society. Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme.”
She added that the course would allow students to re-examine their assumptions that the West was wholly rational and scientific while the rest of the world was superstitious and mystical.