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Peter Geschiere - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Witchcraft intimacy and trust africa in comparison
2013Co-Authors: Peter GeschiereAbstract:In Dante's Inferno, the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust, Peter Geschiere sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of Witchcraft. Examining Witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, he shows how this often misunderstood practice is deeply structured by intimacy and the powers it affords. In doing so, he offers not only a comprehensive look at contemporary Witchcraft but also a fresh - if troubling - new way to think about intimacy itself. Geschiere begins in the forests of southeast Cameroon with the Maka, who fear "Witchcraft of the house" above all else. Drawing a variety of local conceptions of intimacy into a global arc, he tracks notions of the home and family - and Witchcraft's transgression of them - throughout Africa, Europe, Brazil, and Oceania, showing that Witchcraft provides powerful ways of addressing issues that are crucial to social relationships. Indeed, by uncovering the link between intimacy and Witchcraft in so many parts of the world, he paints a provocative picture of human sociality that scrutinizes some of the most prevalent views held by contemporary social science. One of the few books to situate Witchcraft in a global context, Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust is at once a theoretical tour de force and an empirically rich and lucid take on a difficult-to-understand spiritual practice and the private spaces it so greatly affects.
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Witchcraft as an issue in the politics of belonging democratization and urban migrants involvement with the home village
African Studies Review, 1998Co-Authors: Peter Geschiere, Francis B NyamnjohAbstract:In many parts of Africa, political liberalization seems to have given new impetus to the “politics of belonging,” leading to an obsession with “autochthony.” Thus the continuing relations of urban migrants with their home area tend to be reaffirmed. However, these relations, marked by an explosive mixture of intimacy and inequality, continue also to be a hotbed for Witchcraft rumors. In this article we compare two different cases, from different parts of Cameroon, of Witchcraft threats and efforts to contain them in the context of rural-urban relations. In both cases, the accusations are the same—they refer to a novel form of zombie Witchcraft attributed to the nouveaux riches—but they are dealt with in a strikingly different manner. A Grassfields chief from the Northwest challenges the authority of the state by arresting three Witchcraft suspects among his subjects in the faraway Southwest. In the segmentary societies of the southern forest area, urban elites appeal to the state for protection against vicious Witchcraft accusations. The increased importance of “belonging” and “autochthony” in national politics makes Witchcraft more and more a public issue, triggering new efforts to contain it in which the new associations of urban elites play a central role. However, the effectiveness of such efforts remains doubtful: the increased importance of the relations between urban elites and the home area tends to reproduce Witchcraft, which is, indeed, thriving on such an explosive mixture of intimacy and blatant inequality.
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containing Witchcraft conflicting scenarios in postcolonial africa
African Studies Review, 1998Co-Authors: Diane Ciekawy, Peter GeschiereAbstract:A striking turn in African studies since the late 1980s has been the renewed attention to “Witchcraft,” conceptualized explicitly in relation to modern changes. Perhaps the prior neglect of this relationship by social scientists is even more striking, for throughout the postcolonial period the influence of Witchcraft discourse has become increasingly manifest, precisely in modern sectors of society including politics, sports, new forms of entrepreneurship, and institutions of formal education. The neglect of what could be called the “modernity” of Witchcraft has been especially striking among anthropologists, in view of the long-standing preoccupation in their discipline with the theme of “sorcery and Witchcraft.” Up until the end of the 1980s, and despite their supposed expertise in this field, anthropologists seemed reluctant to confront the flourishing of the occult in modern sectors of society, abandoning this challenging theme to journalists and theologians. A wide array of reasons can account for this reluctance, such as the tenacious influence of the structural-functionalist paradigm with its obsession with order and internal integration, or the tendency to study “Witchcraft” or ”sorcery” in local contexts. Another reason is the preference of anthropologists for clear-cut classifications such as “good” versus “bad” magic—while it is precisely the diffuseness and ambiguity of discourses on the occult that are so important for understanding their relevance for interpellating modern changes (see Geschiere 1997, especially the afterword). This reticence on the part of anthropologists has abruptly broken down and, especially since 1993, there has been a torrent of studies on Witchcraft and the occult. The theme of Witchcraft and modernity is decidedly popular now.
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globalization and the power of indeterminate meaning Witchcraft and spirit cults in africa and east asia
Development and Change, 1998Co-Authors: Peter GeschiereAbstract:The obsession with Witchcraft in many parts of present‐day Africa is not to be viewed as some sort of traditional residue. On the contrary, it is especially present in the more modern spheres of society. In a comparative, global perspective, this linking of modernity and Witchcraft is not particular to Africa: in other parts of our globalized world, modern developments coincide with a proliferation of what the Comaroffs (forthcoming) call ‘the economies of the occult’. In this article, representations in South and West Cameroon about ekong, supposedly a novel form of Witchcraft explicitly associated with modern forms of wealth, are compared to Weller's study of the upsurge of spirit cults in Taiwan, during the recent economic boom of this ‘Asian tiger’. The power of such discourses on occult forces is that they relate people's fascination with the open‐endedness of global flows to the search for fixed orientation points and identities. Both Witchcraft and spirit cults exhibit a surprising capacity for combining the local and the global. Both also have specific implications for the ways in which people try to deal with modernity's challenge.
James Sharpe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Witchcraft in the early modern Isle of Man
Cultural & Social History, 2020Co-Authors: James SharpeAbstract:This article examines evidence relating to Witchcraft beliefs and official attitudes to Witchcraft in the Isle of Man during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is based mainly on court records, and above all those of the Manx ecclesiastical courts. It demonstrates that there was a rich popular culture relating to Witchcraft on the island, with a number of individualistic features. It places Manx Witchcraft beliefs in relation to two other phenomena that were central to the island's popular culture: fairy beliefs and the belief in the efficacy of the curse. It also demonstrates that the island's authorities maintained a relatively low-keyed approach to Witchcraft (only two people are known to have been executed as witches in the island), treating it as a sign of popular ignorance and a regrettable source of neighbourly disputes rather than as a satanic heresy.
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Witchcraft In Early Modern England
1997Co-Authors: James SharpeAbstract:PART ONE: Witchcraft IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND1. Introduction 2. Elite perspectives on Witchcraft: demonology, the law and educated culture 3. Witch trials, Witchcraft accusations and the problem of community 4. Witch beliefs: the broader spectrum 5. The decline of Witchcraft PART TWO: ASSESSMENT 6. Summing up PART THREE: DOCUMENTS Bibliography Index
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instruments of darkness Witchcraft in england 1550 1750
1996Co-Authors: James SharpeAbstract:Part 1 Witchcraft in Elizabethan and Ealy Stuart England: Witchcraft and elite mentalities Witchcraft in popular culture the theological and legal bases for witch-hunting. Part 2 Five themes patterns for prosecution and punishment England's mass witch-hunt - East Anglia, 1645-7 accusations, counter-measures and the local community women and Witchcraft possession. Part 3 The problem of decline: the growth of judicial scepticism a changing religious context science and the decline of Witchcraft.
Julian Goodare - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland - Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland
2020Co-Authors: Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce MillerAbstract:Introduction J.Goodare & J.Miller Scottish Witchcraft in its European Context J.Goodare Some Findings from the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft L.Martin & J.Miller Witch Persecution and Popular Belief in Lowland Scotland: the Devil's Decade E.J.Cowan Witch Hunting and Witch Belief in the Gaidhealtachd L.Henderson Scottish Witchcraft Panics Re-examined L.Martin Men in Black: Appearances of the Devil in Early Modern Scottish Witchcraft Discourse J.Miller Demonic Possession in Early Modern Scotland B.P.Levack A Comparative Perspective on Scottish Cunning-Folk and Charmers O.Davies The Mechanical World-View and the Decline of Witch-Beliefs in Scotland M.Wasser 'Charms against Witchcraft': Magic and Mischief in Museum Collections H.Cheape Further Reading
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The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context
The Eighteenth Century, 2004Co-Authors: Julian GoodareAbstract:Preface List of Figures List of Abbreviations Notes on contributors 1. Introduction - Julian Goodare 2. The global context of the Scottish witch-hunt - Ronald Hutton 3. In search of the Devil in Fife Witchcraft cases, 1560-1705 - Stuart MacDonald 4. The Scottish Witchcraft panic of 1597 - Julian Goodare 5. The Devil and the domestic: Witchcraft, quarrels and women's work in Scotland - Lauren Martin 6. Devices and directions: folk healing aspects of Witchcraft practice in seventeenth-century Scotland - Joyce Miller 7. Hunting the rich witch in Scotland: high-status Witchcraft suspects and their persecutors, 1590-1650 - Louise Yeoman 8. Witch-hunting and the Scottish state - Julian Goodare 9. The western witch-hunt of 1697-1700: the last major witch-hunt in Scotland - Michael Wasser 10. The decline and end of Scottish witch-hunting - Brian P. Levack 11. Witch-hunting, Witchcraft and witch historiography: England and Scotland compared - James A. Sharpe 12. The last of the witches: the survival of Scottish witch belief - Edward J. Cowan and Lizanne Henderson Further Reading
Lauren Martin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Scottish Witchcraft Panics Re-examined
Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland, 2020Co-Authors: Lauren MartinAbstract:A consensus about the patterns of Witchcraft prosecution in early modern Scotland has emerged over the last 25 years. Scholars generally agree that early modern Scotland was gripped by five national Witchcraft panics in 1590–1, 1597, 1629–30, 1649–50 and 1661–2; and that these ‘panics’ were part of a larger, European witch-hunt that Scotland joined in its second wave.1 These national peaks were primarily identified quantitatively by counting the number of recorded Witchcraft suspects accused annually in Scotland, but qualitative sources were also used to estimate the numbers of accusations made in the 15905.2 The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, completed in 2003, confirms the general pattern of peaks and troughs in annual rates of Witchcraft prosecution in Scotland and identifies a few additional peaks.3 The pattern is so well established that it opens and frames nearly every recent article about Scottish Witchcraft, including my own and several chapters in this volume.4 The general chronological pattern of national Witchcraft prosecution in Scotland, therefore, is not in question. But what does this pattern mean? Is it the most illuminating way to frame Witchcraft accusation and prosecution? How is our understanding of Witchcraft belief shaped (and possibly constrained) by this perspective? Are there other possible models for thinking about patterns of Witchcraft prosecution?
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Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland - Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland
2020Co-Authors: Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce MillerAbstract:Introduction J.Goodare & J.Miller Scottish Witchcraft in its European Context J.Goodare Some Findings from the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft L.Martin & J.Miller Witch Persecution and Popular Belief in Lowland Scotland: the Devil's Decade E.J.Cowan Witch Hunting and Witch Belief in the Gaidhealtachd L.Henderson Scottish Witchcraft Panics Re-examined L.Martin Men in Black: Appearances of the Devil in Early Modern Scottish Witchcraft Discourse J.Miller Demonic Possession in Early Modern Scotland B.P.Levack A Comparative Perspective on Scottish Cunning-Folk and Charmers O.Davies The Mechanical World-View and the Decline of Witch-Beliefs in Scotland M.Wasser 'Charms against Witchcraft': Magic and Mischief in Museum Collections H.Cheape Further Reading
Willem De Blécourt - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Witchcraft continued: Popular magic in modern Europe - Witchcraft continued: Popular magic in modern Europe
2020Co-Authors: Willem De Blécourt, Owen DaviesAbstract:List of contributors Introduction: Witchcraft continued - Willem de Blecourt and Owen Davies 1. A case of withcraft assault in early nineteenth-century England as ostensive action - Stephen Mitchell 2. Witchcraft, witch doctors and the fight against 'superstition' in nineteenth-century Germany - Nils Freytag 3. The witch and the detective: Mid-Victorian stories and beliefs - Susan Hoyle 4. Narrative and the social dynamics of magical harm in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Finland - Laura Stark 5. Boiling chickens and burning cats: Witchcraft in the western Netherlands 1850-1925 - Willem de Blecourt 6. Witchcraft accusations in France 1850-1990 - Owen Davies 7. Magical healing in Spain (1875-1936): Medical pluralism in the search for hegemony - Enrique Perdiguero 8. Witchcraft, healing and vernacular magic in Italy - Sabina Magliocco 9. Curse, maleficium, divination: Witchcraft on the borderline of religion and magic - Eva Pocs 10. Spooks and Spooks: Black magic and bogeymen in Northern Ireland 1973-74 - Richard Jenkins Index
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Witchcraft in early modern Europe: On the continuation of Witchcraft
Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe, 1996Co-Authors: Willem De BlécourtAbstract:In this chapter, I will combine some general points of critique on Thomas' Religion and the Decline of Magic with specific refutations of his remarks on the ‘survival’ of traditional Witchcraft into the twentieth century. While my overall criticism is mainly of a theoretical nature, the specific comments are illustrated with material taken from my research on Dutch Witchcraft. Although a comparison of Witchcraft in England with that in the Netherlands might yield some salient differences, here it is above all meant to provide further possibilities for the study of ‘Witchcraft’ – that is, labelling people as ‘witches’ – in historical European contexts. Among other things, I will argue that, at least in some situations, the opposition of ‘magic’ and religion prohibits the recognition of the latter as a legitimising category that also encapsulated Witchcraft. When commenting upon a book more than twenty years old, as Religion and the Decline of Magic is, one has to take into account that it has already been criticised and that its author will have had the time to reconsider some of his hypotheses and conclusions. However, that should not deter one from criticism, especially when the book is still referred to (the Dutch translation was published only a few years ago) and even constitutes the starting point for most students of early modern Witchcraft. Also, I think it is possible to uncover some problems that have, at least partly, escaped attention so far.
