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 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.

Dates and location:
07.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114: The Colonial Invention of Animism
08.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114: European Animisms Today
09.11.2023 – 16:15-17:45 at Jakobi 2-114: The Relational Turn and the Study of Religion

Detailed descriptions of the lectures:
The Colonial Invention of Animism
07.11.2023 – 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.

European Animisms Today
08.11.2023 – 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.

The Relational Turn and the Study of Religion
09.11.2023 – 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.