Canalside Lecture Series: Halloween an Anthropological Perspective on a Festival with Many Meanings

Halloween can be explained according to different themes, each with widespread cultural parallels: as a seasonal/calendrical event; as a “ritual of reversal;” as Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival; as All Hallows Eve, a Christian observance; as a witches’ sabbath; as a modern pagan holiday; and, in America, a special event for children. Join us for an evening with Phil Stevens, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology Emeritus University at Buffalo, SUNY.
Phil Stevens retired in 2019 after 48 years in the Anthropology Department at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He received his B.A. in English from Yale in 1963, then served with the Peace Corps in Nigeria for three years. Those experiences brought him into anthropology, and he and received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1973.
He has conducted anthropological research in West Africa and the Caribbean. He is the author of many publications in cultural anthropology and African studies. Among his honors are two awards for excellence in teaching, and an African chieftaincy title! One of his most popular courses at UB was on the anthropology of Magic, Sorcery, and Witchcraft; and his book on that topic was published in 2024 by Routledge. He lectures frequently to community groups on subjects of current concern.