Double, Double Toil and Trouble: Witches Make Their Way to Sul Ross

By Brooke Manuel, Skyline Editor

Photo By Brooke Manuel

ALPINE – In alignment with the return of witches and witchcraft in contemporary American culture, Rosemary Briseño is now teaching a Witches and Witchcraft in American Literature course at Sul Ross State University. 

The 21st century has brought a new wave of feminists, and alongside it, witches and the practice of witchcraft have re-emerged from the shadows. 

The number of Americans who identify with Wicca or paganism has risen from about 134,000 in 2001 to over 2 million today, said Helen Berger, an American sociologist who is known for her studies of the Pagan community in the United States. 

Wicca is a modern Pagan earth-centered religion. A large percentage of Wiccans identify as witches and practice witchcraft.  

During the Salem witch trials, women who stepped outside of their roles as mothers, caretakers and wives were accused of witchcraft and viewed as servants of Satan. Some of the women who stepped outside of the typical female role at the time of the Salem witch trials had a big influence on their communities and were therefore seen as threats, so it is only fitting that witchcraft and feminism go hand in hand. 

“The fact that [witches] are seen as powerful entities within their communities scares the living pants out of the patriarchy. So, women are already persecuted for being women in a patriarchal society, and then if you add in the additional layer of having uncanny magical skills, then she’s a force to be reckoned with,” Briseño, associate professor of English at SRSU, said. 

Briseño announced the arrival of her new course, English 4307: Witches and Witchcraft in American Literature, in an email to SRSU students, faculty and staff at the end of the Fall 2023 semester.  

One of the objectives of the course is to destigmatize some of the myths surrounding witches and witchcraft.  

Briseño first taught the course at the graduate level during the Summer 2023 semester. Despite having received over 40 inquiries from interested students, the class only consisted of three students, because it was not part of the core curriculum, and it was a graduate-level course. Most of the students who reached out to Briseño about the course were women.  

Although most of the feedback Briseño received when the course was taught at the graduate level was positive, there were a few negative responses.   

“I did get a few negative responses on email saying things like ‘Why are you teaching that devil’s course on campus?’ [and] ‘This kind of class should not be taught at Sul Ross’,” Briseño said.  

This semester, Briseño is teaching the course at the undergraduate level. There are 13 students enrolled in the course, 11 distance learners and two Alpine students.  

When asked how she became interested in witches and witchcraft, Briseño attributed it to her work as a feminist scholar.   

“I’ve always been interested in the different layers of feminism,” Briseño said.  

She said her grandmother also had a hand in piquing her interest in witches and witchcraft.  

“My grandma was a practicing curandera. A curandera is basically a healer, so she knows a lot about herbs, she knows how to take away (the evil eye), things like that,” Briseño said.  

Briseño’s course isn’t the first of its kind in recent years. The University of North Texas, the University of Texas-Austin, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania are among the numerous colleges that have begun offering courses on witches and witchcraft in recent years. In contrast to the one being taught at Sul Ross, the courses at those universities are classified under history and women’s and gender studies.  

The Skyline reached out to a graduate student who took the course last summer.  

“It’s a class that’s different, and I don’t mean in a bad way. Witchcraft is often seen as a very taboo topic because of the fact it’s different. Dr. Briseño’s class over Witches and Witchcraft opened many new literary avenues to my culture as a Hispanic woman. I’m glad I took it,” said Ycela Ortiz, an SRSU student.