CCS Workshop ~ January 30, 2026 ~ Dominik Bartmanski

Dominik Bartmanski ~ Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany ~ CCS Faculty Fellow

Co-authors: Isaac Gagne ~ Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien-DIJ Tokyo, Hong Kong University & Christie Tsang ~ Hong Kong University

‘Pragmagic’ in Urban East Asia: On Persistence of Non-Rational Practices and Rituals of Magical Control in Tokyo and Hong Kong

Abstract: Through comparative analysis, this project aims to examine the persistence of and revisited meanings of magical practice and sacred spaces in Tokyo and Hong Kong’s urban landscape. We suggest that the use of magic to break the routine or gain control over the precarity of modern life challenges binaries of and boundaries between “rational” and “non-rational” thinking/action.

Please note: Workshop readings are automatically available to current participants only. A link and password will be sent via email prior to the workshop. 

Please do not share the link or password as we promise confidentiality to our speakers. Off- campus CCS Fellows should contact the CCS Administrator to gain access as needed.

The CCS Workshop will meet this year at 210 Prospect Street, room 203 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Coffee and tea will be served during the workshop and lunch afterwards.