Letha Victor (BA, University of British Columbia; MA, McGill University; PhD, University of Toronto) is a sociocultural anthropologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies.Her research projects since 2008 have centred on the Acholi sub-region of northern Uganda, where she has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork on postcolonial violence, haunting, human-spirit relations, and ethics. She is interested in a broad range of issues that include subjectivity, ethics, temporality, social change, religiosity, trauma and the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural legibility of suffering, witchcraft and conspiracy, and debates about morality, ritual expertise, and authenticity in Acholi society. Currently, she is working on a book manuscript about ghostly vengeance and spiritual pollution in contemporary post-war Acholi.
Dr. Victor’s current teaching focuses on ethnographic approaches to religion and healing cross-culturally, as well as religiosity and epistemology in contemporary Africa. She is interested in supervising MA projects broadly related to the aforementioned topics. Prospective students may contact her directly with proposals.
Senior Seminar in Religious Studies (RELS 4600)
Postcolonial African Religiosity (RELS 4000/5000, ANTH 4020/5090, AFRS 4050)
Religion and Healing (RELS 3000/3214, ANTH 3020, HLTH 3000)
Recent Publications: