lecture 19 witchcraft, sorcery and modernity. witchcraft – sorcery - magic superstition pre-modern...
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Lecture 19Witchcraft, sorcery and modernity
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Witchcraft – Sorcery - Magic
Superstition
Pre-modern
Pre-scientific
Irrational
Tradition
Historical past
Fantasy
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Defining witchcraft
• Witchcraft vs. sorcery
• Theory of causation
• Social commentary and expression of moral judgement
• Means of social action
• Individual freedom and creativity
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Witchcraft, religion, science and modernity
• Western assumption of progress towards enlightenment
• Durkheim’s evolutionary view of society
• Durkheim: Religion is primitive science
• Religion is superseded by science
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Evans-Pritchard – Azande magic
• Azande thinking was no less rational than European thinking
• Belief in witchcraft coexisted with ‘rational’ explanations of causality
• Witchcraft provided a ‘natural philosophy’ for explaining unfortunate events
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Azande witchcraft
• Witchcraft is not extraordinary or miraculous
• It does not replace empirical knowledge
• It explains ‘coincidence’
• Focuses on the socially relevant cause
• Gives social events their moral value
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Azande witchcraft and morality
• Follows the dynamics of social relations
• Expresses Azande moral values
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Witchcraft is thoroughly modern
• The powers of witchcraft and sorcery are ambivalent
• Dynamic and engaged with the world
• Creatively refashioned to suit new situations
• Emphasis on global processes rather than bounded, local contexts
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The Comaroffs: Occult Economies
• No single and universal ‘modernity’
• ‘Occult’ practices are an integral feature of millennial capitalism
• Capitalism itself is cultural and takes on particular local forms
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South African capitalism
• Unequal development and access to wealth
• A few become wealthy by the mysterious workings of the market
• Hopes for the majority have not been realised
• Magic of despair
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Creativity and modernity
• The key feature of witchcraft is its ambiguity
• An individual can connect to the supernatural directly
• Acts as a dynamic site for cultural and moral creativity
• Witchcraft and sorcery is always modern