Professor Brian Rappert
Over the last few years I have been learning entertainment magic as a way of examining how skills are acquired. As part of this, I have offered a series of magic shows for the general public. In these sessions, I use the play of secrecy, disclosure and deception in magic to discuss the role of secrecy, disclosure and deception in art, science, war and everyday life. This is done through drawing on concepts and theories in the social sciences.
The Magic of Social Life employs magic as a way of illustrating theories and concepts in the social sciences as well as using those theories and concepts as way of appreciating magic as a form of social interaction.
Click on the links below to explore the relevance of each term for magic and social life.
Relations |
Witnessing |
Concealment |
Duality |
Vulnerability |
Skill |
Challenge |
Bullshit |
Dependencies |
Ignorance |
Funding for The Magic of Social Life was provided under a small grant from the ESRC Festival of Social Science, with additional support from the University of Exeter.
