In this course, we will use the anthropological approach and methodology to understand witch-hunts and persecution. We start by looking at magic, witchcraft and sorcery and explaining the persistence of related beliefs and practices. As we will see the basic idea of witch persecution is that we have an image of a witch (or sorcerer) and then we pin it on someone. We analyze this image in greater detail. Pinning this image on someone is a process of accusation; we analyze among whom, why and how accusations occur. Finally, we look at some “witch-hunts”—including the Great Witch-hunt, the...
In this lecture, I want to analyze witch-hunts in terms of the concept “revitalization movement”. This concept, theorized by Wallace in 1956, describes three ways societies to deal with cultural change: by slowly changing; by deliberately attempting to create a new culture (revitalization); or,...
Published 10/10/13
In this lecture, I want to analyze more deeply relationships between those involved in both witchcraft and accusation. I suggest that harm can result from either the perceived black magic or from accusations and attack against ‘witches’ and ‘sorcerers’. In analyzing this we can see that both...
Published 10/02/13