Moral Power

The Magic of Witchcraft
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-0-85745-659-5
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 284 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 416 g

Reihe: Epistemologies of Healing

Neither power nor morality but both. Moral power is what Sukuma farmers in Tanzania in times of crisis attribute to an unknown figure they call their witch. A universal process is involved, as much bodily as social, which obstructs the patient’s recovery. Healers turn the table on the witch through rituals showing that the community and the ancestral spirits side with the victim. In contrast to biomedicine, their magic and divination introduce moral values that assess the state of the system and that remove the obstacles to what is taken as key: self-healing. The implied ‘sensory shifts’ and therapeutic effectiveness have largely eluded the literature on witchcraft. This book shows how to comprehend culture other than through the prism of identity politics. It offers a framework to comprehend the rise of witch killings and human sacrifice, just as ritual initiation disappears.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stroeken, Koen

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction: The meaning of witchcraft

Chapter 1. Why magic works: Systemic healing

Chapter 2. The dancer: Gift and sacrifice

Chapter 3. Four forms of social exchange

Chapter 4. The witch: Moral power and intrusion

Chapter 5. Divination: A healing journey

Chapter 6. The ‘pure’ reason of witch killing

Chapter 7. Spirit possession: Incarnating moral power

Chapter 8. Magic, ritual and the senses

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Stroeken, Koen
Koen Stroeken is an associate professor of Africanist anthropology at Ghent University. He studies the moral cosmologies underlying medicine and social media.