Engaging evil : a moral anthropology / edited by William C. Olsen and Thomas Csordas.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Olsen, William C., editor.

Csordas, Thomas J., editor.

Series:

Methodology & History in Anthropology ; 36

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Good and evil--Social aspects.

Good and evil.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (322 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2019.

Summary:

Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FIGURES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I Evil and Anthropology

Chapter 1 FROM THEODICY TO HOMODICY: EVIL AS AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PROBLEM

Chapter 2 ON THE CONCEPT OF “EVIL” IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE

PART II Evil and Suffering

Chapter 3 SPEAK NO EVIL: INVERSION AND EVASION IN INDONESIA

Chapter 4 MOTHER EVIL IN HELL VALLEY: A CREOLE TRANSVALORIZATION OF EVIL IN TRINIDAD

Chapter 5 SATAN ON THE OLD KENT ROAD: ARTICULATIONS OF EVIL IN A PENTECOSTAL DIASPORA

Chapter 6 THE TRANSFORMATION OF EVIL IN NEPAL

Chapter 7 RADICAL EVIL AND THE NOTION OF CONSCIENCE: A BUDDHIST MEDITATION ON CHRISTIAN SOTERIOLOGY

Chapter 8 ARE SPIRITS SATANIC? THE AMBIGUITY OF EVIL IN NIGER

PART III Evil and Violence

Chapter 9 ENGAGING EVIL AND EXCESS IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL

Chapter 10 THE VIOLENCE OF EVIL: A BIOCULTURAL APPROACH TO VIOLENCE, MEMORY, AND PAIN

Chapter 11 THE INTENTION OF EVIL: ASRAM IN ASANTE

Chapter 12 MONSTERS, SADISTS, AND THE UNSPECTACULAR TORTURE EXPERIENCE

AFTERWORD

AUTHORS AND INSTITUTIONS

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-80758-969-2

1-78920-214-0