Issue date: 10/21/09 Section: News

Don Holly, an assistant anthropology professor, gestures as he talks about rituals in baseball during the lecture "Magic: An Anthropological Perspective" on Tuesday in the Booth Library conference room. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

When thinking of magic, the first thing that pops into most people's head are spells, potions and wizards, but it really depends on the perspective a person takes.

Don Holly took an anthropological perspective on magic in his presentation Tuesday as part of the Harry Potter's World exhibit in Booth Library.

The assistant professor of anthropology tackled the idea of what magic really is. Holly said the magic of Harry Potter's World is pure fantasy, but other magic is not.

"Some people don't believe in magic, but a lot do," Holly said. "Magic gives people a sense of control over some things they feel they have no control over."

During his presentation, Holly showed a clip from a baseball game where the pitcher would perform a ritual before every pitch.

Holly's reason for showing this was to allow people to see how some people actually believe that if they do something a certain way, good luck will come from it.

Holly believes this is magic. He defined magic as a ritual practice that people do to compel supernatural forces to act a certain way. "Magic is like a recipe, if you do the recipe right then it should work," Holly said.

Holly presented another example of a scenario that could be magic.

He said when some people want to sell their home, they will bury the St. Joseph statue in their yard. "Magic can lead to hope, and we all want to have some type of hope," Holly said. Holly's take on magic was a new perspective to many in attendance, like Ashley Thomas and Johanna Sneed.

Thomas, a senior communication studies major, said Holly had an interesting perspective and that she had never heard anyone talk about magic in a "real sense." Sneed, a philosophy major, said she learned a lot about magic and the way people use it to take control over what they have no control over.

Holly used to teach a course on the anthropology of religion where he would go more in depth with the topic of magic.

He now teaches an entire lecture on magic in his introduction to anthropology course.

Rikki Wright can be reached at 581-7942 or DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.

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