Overview

My research and teaching are focussed on the interstices of criminology, sociology, and anthropology. Currently I am doing research in narrative criminology for a project on crime scene photography. This is based upon 36-months ethnographic research with law enforcement personnel on Guam. My other research includes projects on Islamic art, resistance, and dreams. Previously I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Singapore and Malaysia with Sufi mystics, martial arts practitioners, and traditional healers. Co-founder of Martial Arts Studies I have authored publications on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kung fu, and silat. My fieldwork includes research in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand) and Micronesia (Palau, Guam, and Yap).

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Research

• Crime scene photography
• Narrative criminology
• Visual anthropology
• Resistance 
• Anthropology of dreams
• Witchcraft
• Martial arts
• Martialité

Research group links

• Centre for Magic and Esotericism
• Department of Sociology and Philosophy
• Egenis - Mind, Body, and Culture

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Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006 |

2021

• Farrer DS. (2021) Cursed Britain: a history of witchcraft and black magic in modern times, JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, volume 27, no. 3, pages 726-727. [PDF]

2020

• Farrer DS. (2020) Dreamwork, art worlds and miracles in Malaysia, World Art, volume 10, no. 1, pages 25-54, DOI:10.1080/21500894.2020.1725103.

2019

• Farrer DS. (2019) Venezuelan stick fighting: the civilizing process in martial arts, JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, volume 25, no. 2, pages 421-422, DOI:10.1111/1467-9655.13064. [PDF]
• Farrer DS. (2019) Brazilian jiu-jitsu is therapy Shifting subjectivities on Guam, Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, volume 12, no. 3, pages 407-428, DOI:10.3240/95531.

2018

• Farrer D. (2018) Performance Ethnography, Martial Arts Studies: A Reader, Rowman and Littlefield.
• Farrer DS. (2018) Captivation, false connection and secret societies in Singapore, Martial Arts Studies, volume 0, no. 5, pages 36-36, DOI:10.18573/mas.48. [PDF]

2017

• Farrer DS. (2017) Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets: Medicine and Martial Arts in South India, SOUTH ASIA-JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES, volume 40, no. 2, pages 422-424, DOI:10.1080/00856401.2017.1300564. [PDF]

2016

• Farrer D. (2016) War Magic Religion, Sorcery, and Performance, Berghahn Books.

2015

• Farrer DS. (2015) Efficacy and entertainment in Martial Arts Studies: anthropological perspectives, Martial Arts Studies, volume 0, no. 1, pages 34-34, DOI:10.18573/j.2015.10017. [PDF]

2014

• Farrer DS. (2014) Introduction: Cross-cultural articulations of war magic and warrior religion, Social Analysis, volume 58, no. 1, pages 1-24, DOI:10.3167/sa.2014.580101.
• Farrer DS, Sellmann JD. (2014) Chants of re-enchantment: Chamorro spiritual resistance to colonial domination, Social Analysis, volume 58, no. 1, pages 127-148, DOI:10.3167/sa.2014.580107.

2012

• Farrer DS. (2012) The Performance of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Performance in Malay Singapore, Moussons, no. 20, pages 11-32, DOI:10.4000/moussons.1573. [PDF]

2011

• Farrer DS. (2011) Coffee-shop gods: Chinese martial arts of the Singapore diaspora, Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge: Asian Traditions in a Transnational World, 203-237.
• Farrer DS, Whalen-Bridge J. (2011) Martial arts as embodied knowledge: Asian traditions in a transnational world.

2009

• Farrer DS. (2009) Seni Silat Haqq Melayu: A Sufi Martial Art, Shadows of the Prophet, Springer Netherlands, 3-42, DOI:10.1007/978-1-4020-9356-2_1. [PDF]
• Farrer DS. (2009) Shadows of the Prophet, Springer Netherlands, DOI:10.1007/978-1-4020-9356-2. [PDF]

2008

• Farrer DS. (2008) The healing arts of the Malay mystic, Visual Anthropology Review, volume 24, no. 1, pages 29-46, DOI:10.1111/J.1548-7458.2008.00003.X.

2006

• Farrer D. (2006) 'Deathscapes' of the Malay martial artist, Social Analysis, volume 50, no. 1, pages 25-50, DOI:10.3167/015597706780886076.

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Teaching

Modules taught

• SOC1020 - Contemporary Society: Field and Case Studies
• SOC1040 - Social Issues: Part II - Themes in Criminology
• SOC2004 - Into the Field
• SOC2068 - Race, Ethnicity and Criminalisation
• SOC2069 - Crimes of the Powerful
• SOC2124 - Surveillance, Security and the State
• SOC3040 - Dissertation
• SOC3126 - Race, Ethnicity and Criminalisation
• SOC3127 - Crimes of the Powerful
• SOC3130 - Digital Society

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Biography

I took BA Social Science (Sociology Track) at Middlesex University, followed by MA Social and Political Thought at Sussex University. At the National University of Singapore I completed a doctorate in Anthropology with a dissertation on Malay mysticism. This was published as Shadows of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism. I have also edited volumes on Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge, and War Magic. Trained in martial arts since the age of eight I have been awarded three black belts. Currently I am learning Brazillian jiu-jitsu and Ashtanga yoga. Because my research intersects with the anthropology of peformance and performance studies, I am also Affiliate Professor of Theatre at the University of Ottawa. Co-teaching fieldschools in underwater archaeology on Guam I became a rescue diver. 

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