Witches and Demons - A Comparative Perspective on Witchcraft and Satanism

Devil worship, black magic, and witchcraft have long captivated anthropologists as well as the general public. In this volume, Jean La Fontaine explores the intersection of expert and lay understandings of evil and the cultural forms that evil assumes. The chapters touch on public scares about devil-worship, misconceptions about human sacrifice and the use of body parts in healing practices, and mistaken accusations of children practicing witchcraft. Together, these cases demonstrate that comparison is a powerful method of cultural understanding, but warns of the dangers and mistaken conclusions that untrained ideas about other ways of life can lead to.

List of contents

Introduction: Understanding the Other

Chapter 1. Hidden Enemies: Evil at the end of the Millennium

Chapter 2. Concepts of Evil, Witchcraft and the Sexual Abuse of Children in Modern England

Chapter 3. Ritual Murder?

Chapter 4. Magic and medicine: The Torso in the Thames

Chapter 5. Child Witches in London: Tradition and change in religious belief

Chapter 6. The morality of childhood

Chapter 7. Pastors and witches

Chapter 8. London's witch children

Conclusion: Continuities and changes

About the author

Jean La Fontaine is a Research Fellow of Inform and Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, where she taught for nearly twenty years. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge and has chaired the Association of Social Anthropologists, and served as President of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Summary

Devil worship, black magic, and witchcraft have long captivated anthropologists as well as the general public. This volume explores the intersection of expert and lay understandings of evil and the cultural forms that evil assumes.

Product details

• Authors: Jean La Fontaine, J. S. La Fontaine, Jean La Fontaine
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.04.2016
• EAN: 9781785330858
• ISBN: 978-1-78533-085-8
• No. of pages: 156
• Series: Studies in Public and Applied Anthropology
• Subjects: Guides > Spirituality > Ancient knowledge, ancient cultures; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); England, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, Witchcraft, RELIGION / Wicca, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Anthropology (General); Anthropology of Religion