Witchcraft, sorcery, rumors, and gossip / Pamela J. Stewart, Andrew Strathern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stewart, Pamela J.

Contributor:

Strathern, Andrew.

Series:

New departures in anthropology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Witchcraft--Cross-cultural studies.

Witchcraft.

Gossip--Cross-cultural studies.

Gossip.

Social conflict--Cross-cultural studies.

Social conflict.

Violence--Cross-cultural studies.

Violence.

Genre:

Cross-cultural studies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 228 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Summary:

This book combines two classic topics in social anthropology in a new synthesis: the study of witchcraft and sorcery and the study of rumors and gossip. It does so in two ways. First, it shows how rumor and gossip are invariably important as catalysts for accusations of witchcraft and sorcery. Second, it demonstrates the role of rumor and gossip in the genesis of social and political violence, as in the case of both peasant rebellions and witch-hunts. Examples supporting the argument are drawn from Africa, Europe, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka. They include discussions of witchcraft trials in England and Scotland in the seventeenth century, witch-hunts and vampire narratives in colonial and contemporary Africa, millenarian movements in New Guinea, the Indian Mutiny in nineteenth-century Uttar Pradesh, and rumors of construction sacrifice in Indonesia.

Contents:

1 Witchcraft and Sorcery: Modes of Analysis 1

2 Rumor and Gossip: An Overview 29

3 Africa 59

4 India 96

5 New Guinea 113

6 European and American Witchcraft 140

7 Rumors and Violence 168

8 Conclusions: Conflict and Cohesion 194.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-216) and index.

ISBN:

0521808685

052100473X

OCLC:

51817236

Online:

Publisher description