Notes

Module 7 - Definitions

Witch
people suspected of practicing socially prohibited forms of magic, either
deliberately or unconsciously
they are therefore usually scapegoats, members of persecuted groups, and reflect
social tensions
could be a substance, or something within a person's body
allegations of witchcraft erupt in waves in response to social tensions
Sorcerer
actively seeks to harness supernatural power to affect others or control
conditions
sorcery is a pragmatic, conscious practice; that involves acts of magic that lead to
personal power
Divination
the use of magic in the supernatural realm to understand the future or hidden
things
wanting to know about the unknown through oracles, looking at the signs, or the
use of religious specialists who deploy certain agents
Magic
the work that witches do, the power oracles utilize to divine the future, and
sorcerers use - are all magic
idea or belief that the relationship between an act and its effect rests on a
mystical connection (rather than empirical/scientific)
manifests itself in texts and spells, acts and rituals, and objects (talismans or
amulets
 Notes
Module 7 - Magic

MAGIC
In anthropology, magic as a category of analysis has had a complex history, one
traced by Stanley Tambiah, who found that:
understanding of magic tied into trying to figure out what exactly religion was
- magic and religion became a dichotomy
Protestantism argued for the importance of thinking about God, rather than
ecstatic experience - it influenced thinking about religion as faith/belief over
religion as practice, including altered states, rituals, and magic.
MAGIC: Tylor & Frazer
in the late 1800s, Edward Tylor explained that magic, religion, and science, were
all alike as explanations of the world and events in it
James Frazer suggested that magic is the attempt to compel supernatural forces or
beings to act in specific ways
religion is the attempt to please these beings
MAGIC: FRAZER
Frazer suggested that a core concept of magic is the idea of sympathy - like
produces like
items associated with or symbolic of the intended victim can identify them and
carry out the spell
1. The law of similarity (imitative magic)
if thing X is like thing Y, whatever is done to X will happen to Y
2. The law of contagion(contagious magic)
things once in contact with something else/a person can still have an effect
on that thing/person (hair, teeth, blood)
 Notes
Module 7 - Magic Cont'd

MAGIC
for these early anthropologists, the division of magic and religion was based on evolutionary
stages:
magic is the most primitive, followed by religion, and then science is the most rational and
developed system of explanation
magic is regarded as faulty, defective technology or merely psychological
MAGIC
in north America most consider magic to mean superstition, or a belief in the supernatural
"magical thinking" is also a psychological category where we perceive that we can change events
by thinking about them
typical of young children, but problematic in adults
this thinking of magic as "faulty" had a significant impact on anthropological thinking about
religion for a long time:
religion was distanced from magic by relating magic to the past, to "primitives" that were pre-
rational, and to women
a belief in magic, like altered states of consciousness, is irrational; if there are results they are
psychological
MAGIC
though magic was understood as false by Tylor, it was still widely practiced:
he explained this as being because of its psychological effects
this legacy can still be seen today in some anthropologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists
assuming magic works as a "psychodrama," a "placebo effect", or a "self-fulfilling prophecy"
this does not account for magic's potency, realness and consequences
MAGIC & RELIGION
the dichotomy between magic and religion is not real - both deal with the supernatural
contemporary anthropologists still use "magic" to refer to practical, conscious actions intended
to effect supernatural change
look at local usage and cultural applications to see how magic/religion is understood.
 Notes
Module 7 - Witchcraft

WITCHCRAFT
like all monsters in culture, witches communicate a lot about values
common associations with witches include: greed, sexuality, and the nightmare
witch prowling around at night
very often directed at women - especially the excesses of women (difference
between witch and wizard)
WITCHCRAFT
witches and witchcraft associated with anti-social and deviant behaviour
WITCHCRAFT
Many of the qualities associated with being a poor neighbour, such as unsociability,
isolation, stinginess, unfriendliness, and moroseness, are the same qualities
ascribed to the everyday witch. in general, people in socially marginal positions
are vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft - Pamela Moro
WITCHCRAFT
witchcraft and sorcery tell us about power, and how it is wielded:
we can ask under what circumstances power is wielded and when behaviour becomes
deviant - who, what, when does it become anti-social, and what is done about it?
WITCHCRAFT
globalization, economic and political change and the social shifts that happen
because of them often correlate with an increase in accusations of witchcraft in
sub-Saharan Africa
magic and witchcraft, as experiences of the supernatural and explanations of
illness and misfortune, are not static - increasing rates of HIV/aids are a good
example.
 Notes
Module 7 - Witchcraft
Cont'd

WITCHCRAFT
symptoms of witchcraft and HIV are similar, so determining the cause of the illness
is important
HIV is understood to be self-inflicted through immoral behaviour; witchcraft is
considered beyond the individual's control - a product of malicious human
action - and blame is externalized.
though witchcraft is a more socially acceptable illness narrative, it has real
consequences:
households afflicted by illness may become socially isolated and lose support
networks
the division of families and households leads to precarious economic
situations.
WITCHCRAFT
witchcraft as a way of accounting for and explaining misfortune or illness has
real-life implications - sometimes devastating
economic shifts that favour some over others paralleling an upsurge in illness and
death - culturally embedded beliefs in witchcraft as the source of these
misfortunes make sense
they are "thoroughly modern and manifestations of uncertainties, moral disquiet,
and unequal rewards and aspirations in the contemporary moment"