Moral Power : : The Magic of Witchcraft / / Koen Stroeken.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Stroeken, Koen,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Epistemologies of Healing ; 9
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (284 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1. Introduction: The Meaning of Witchcraft -- 2. Why Magic Works: Systemic Healing -- 3. The Dancer: Gift and Sacrifice -- 4. Four Forms of Social Exchange -- 5. The Witch: Moral Power and Intrusion -- 6. Divination: A Healing Journey -- 7. The ‘Pure’ Reason of Witch Killing -- 8. Spirit Possession: Incarnating Moral Power -- 9. Magic, Ritual and the Senses -- References -- Index