The course introduces students to an anthropological perspective on religion, examining its social role in diverse cross-cultural contexts as well as investigating the societal, evolutionary and psychological significance of religious behaviours with regard to understanding what, if anything, constitutes ‘human nature’. To this end, the course will examine the key categories of magico-religious belief and practice used by anthropologists (including myth, ritual, witchcraft and shamanism), as well as surveying theories regarding the continued importance of religion in a contemporary, globalised world with regard to topics such as fundamentalism and identity, religion and violence, and new religious movements.